


Breathing While You Drown

by The_Concierge_Of_Crime



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Brief Discussion of Rape, Explicit Sexual Activities, F/M, M/M, Past Violence, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-10 05:22:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 136,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3278315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Concierge_Of_Crime/pseuds/The_Concierge_Of_Crime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>((Another work by Future_ex and I posted on LJ being posted here. As ever we only own plot ideas and characterisations-- the rest belong to their respective owners i.e. The WWE etc))</p><p>Alex Riley was hoping a new school would mean a fresh start; a chance to forget and move on with his life. However, high school life is complicated enough to try and navigate without drawing the ire of one the school's bad boys before you've even finished your first day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Make The Viper Mad

“If you stare any harder you’re going to burn holes right through their heads.”

“Shut up Code.”

Mike snorted softly as he listened to his friends bickering, not even needing to look up from his Twitter account to know who they were talking about the friends of Randy’s ex-boyfriend John. Randy was obviously waiting for the other boy to turn up. They had broken up only a couple of weeks before and although Randy had been acting out the high life of the singleton since then, as though he didn’t care that he’d been caught out (dabbling with a temporary foreign exchange student by the name of Justin Gabriel before the boy had gone on to England) the other was still watching John like a coiled snake at every opportunity.

Whomever had been brave enough to express an intention to try out with John had found themselves receiving a very terrifying and severe warning to back off from the accurately named Viper of the school.

“He’s here look,” Phil (more commonly known as Punk) lifted a headphone from his ear long enough to show he’d taken notice and then he replaced it before going back to his own eye-candy watching. Ironically, who he had his eye on was seated next to the one Cody had his eye on… And Miz thought they were way out of their leagues; Ted and Evan were two of the biggest swots and all around good-boys that you could ever meet. Much like John, though he was slightly less academically inclined, so it was a little shocking they hung out together. Evan would never look twice at Punk for his attitude, and Cody was much too vain and loving of the spotlight for the Minister’s son…

Miz had to give his friend props for the stones to even consider it though.

And who was Mike interested in? Nobody.

The guys and girls alike were all either geeks, or sluts, and Miz had already had anyone worth having… a few not so worth it in his estimations, but he liked to pretend that they had never happened. So he had had his fair share of partners? If anyone asked he had a pretty steady thing going with his childhood on-off girlfriend the French-Canadian Maryse. He was no fool though; he knew she played around on both sides of the field as much as he did. It had irked him at first but when he realised he was much more skilled at hiding it he allowed her to come grovelling for his forgiveness each time as he carried on without so much as a twitch of conscience.

It wasn’t as though they were really in love with each other or anything, though they’d probably end up together one day. Their parents would certainly go for it, if only to merge the family businesses together.

“Who the fuck is that?”

The sheer menace in Randy’s voice had Miz looking up out of sheer interest as to which unfortunate sap had earned Randy’s ire--- but then everything seemed to stop and fade out around him as he watched a laughing John Cena enter the cafeteria with the arm of a stunningly gorgeous if a little naïve looking brunette around his shoulder.

The boy was maybe as tall as John, an inch taller at best, taller than Mike… and that didn’t happen all that often although Punk would take great delight in reminding Mike that he was only just touching on the average height for a fully grown man. He had a smile that spoke of confidence and dorkiness all at once and he looked completely at ease with himself.

Something about the warm way he gave John a one-armed hug and laughed before affectionately ruffling Evan Bourne’s hair before lightly bumping fists with Ted DiBiase Jr. set Miz’s teeth on edge. The boy shouldn’t be so free with whom he let touch him… He’d give the wrong people the wrong idea.

“Oh oh,” Cody whistled lightly and Miz turned his head to look at him, eyes narrowed as he tipped back his trademark fedora, “What?”

“Mikey has that look in his eye.”

“Do not call me ‘Mikey’ Coddles.”

Cody’s eyes narrowed, glossed lips compressing tightly; Cody was the biggest diva in their school and he didn’t give a shit who knew about it, and he flaunted his homosexuality with pride; especially since there were girls in the sister school who still threw themselves at him despite knowing he was gay hoping that they could somehow convert him, “You wanna go?”

“Bring it on princess.”

“Knock it off you two—”

The sudden scraping sound of Randy’s chair across the lino floor made the other three go quiet, Punk rolling his eyes as he noticed the muscle ticking in Randy’s jaw. A warning sign and, sure enough, Randy was storming over to where John was sitting with this new boy, the two laughing at something Evan said, shoulders touching.

“Think we should go over there and stop him?” Punk asked in a manner that said he had no intention of getting up at all if he didn’t have to.

“Not yet,” Cody shrugged as he pulled a small mirror from his pocket, ignoring Punk’s look, “We’ll let him get it out and then go over--- the sooner he gets John back the better.” Then he’d stop moping around and fucking everything that moved at the same time. It was tiresome having Randy lamenting how much he still wanted and yet hated John; and that was saying something considering he thought that he’d been insufferable when he and John had been together.

“Let Mike go get him.”

“Yeah sure,” Cody’s grin was positively cattish, “Maybe he could get shot down by the brunette cutie.”

Miz stood up, pocketing his BlackBerry, “And maybe whilst I’m there I’ll ask if DiBiase wants a walk by the bike sheds—”

Cody’s smirk died as quickly as it had come as Miz made his way over to the usual table occupied by Cena and his friends with enough time to hear the beginning’s of a Randy Orton Style Interrogation. 

~::~

On the outside John appeared his usual self, cheerful, chatty, making the new boy feel at home by introducing him to his own group of friends earlier on and arranging for them all to sit together at lunch – he already had the feeling that he'd fit right in, he and John certainly seemed to share a few interests and likes judging by the short amount of time they'd had to speak. But inside was a whole different story. He hadn't been genuinely cheerful about anything since he and Randy had their blazing row and acrimonious break-up and he had known even before he walked into the canteen that Randy would be there, watching for him, as cloyingly possessive as ever in spite of his insistence to everyone that he was having the time of his life. John himself preferred to appear unconcerned, so over it, but he hadn't even begun to be over it. He was starting to wonder if he ever would be. Waking up and remembering that Randy wasn't his anymore caused him an almost physical pain and it was getting harder and harder to pretend that he was doing okay. But he kept on pretending because he assumed that if he kept it up then one day he would be... and because he didn't want to give Randy the satisfaction of knowing that he'd torn John's heart from his chest when he'd messed around with the foreign exchange student. 

And the excuse – that Justin wasn't going to be around for long and so he thought he'd better take the chance while it was there and he'd never thought that John would find out because Justin wouldn't be around to remind him of it – was just pathetic. As it turned out, Justin wasn't exactly discrete and John's heartbreak had been compounded by the utter embarrassment of everyone knowing. That Randy had expected forgiveness stuck in his throat, more so because Randy didn't seem to think he'd done anything really wrong and that John was over-reacting.

Well, at least there was one person in school who didn't know, although he probably would before the end of the day. Alex, the new student, wasn't yet aware that John's boyfriend, the most desired boy in the whole school, had cheated on him and that their break-up was still the hottest topic of gossip among the students. 

Although John had the dismal feeling that it wouldn't be long before Alex got a big clue. He hadn't looked over to the table where Randy and his cronies hung out every lunchtime but he had been able to feel the eyes boring into him since he walked into the room and as it turned out, Alex was both demonstrative and friendly; he knew that Randy was going to have a fit over the arm on his shoulder. He had always been a little jealous but it had been under control until John had done the unthinkable and left him, now it seemed that every casual conversation was a threat. Randy wanted him back, John didn't have to talk to the boy to know it. But he wasn't having John Cena to cheat on any more. 

It was less than two minutes before Randy was looming at their table – and at six-four, Randy could loom pretty well. John ignored him until he'd finished what he was saying, spinning it out a little so that Randy had to wait. His friends played along with it. By now, they'd gotten used to the drama and fighting that seemed to characterise the break-up of the schools golden gay couple. 

Eventually John looked over in Randy's direction, immediately plastering a bored look on his face. “Oh, you. What do you want?”

“Who the fuck is that?”

Randy gestured rudely to Alex and John felt himself bristling, even though he had promised himself he would stop reacting to Randy's jibes. Fat chance of that. He promised himself that same thing every morning and always let himself down. “This is Alex Riley, he just transferred here. Alex, this uh, child here is Randy Orton.”

“New? At this time of year?” Randy sneered. “You get kicked out of the last school or did your parents win the lottery?”

John narrowed his eyes. Their school was one that demanded fees so most of the kids were affluent, with the exception of some who had gotten there via scholarship. While it wasn't the most expensive around, that it asked for money meant the educational standard was slightly better and that the students entitlement issues were somewhat more grandiose. He resented Randy throwing that at Alex, although the truth was that the two reasons given were the main reasons for people transferring in the middle of the year, with the exception of Punk and he had been sent there only because his parents had talked his old school into the transfer before his mouth got him expelled. An expulsion would look bad on his record.

“The other guy is Mike,” said John before Alex had the chance to consider a reply to the question and thinking that for once, Mizanin was actually of some use. For once Mike hadn't jumped in and mouthed off right alongside Randy, a habit of his that had always driven John insane. He was acting almost tongue-tied, but John didn't think much of it. Alex looked up at Mike but Randy was standing in his way and he had a vague impression of a guy in a hat before Randy was in front of him again, leaning his hands on the table and staring at Alex menacingly. 

“Randy,” sighed John. “For god’s sake--”

“I just wanna know what brings him here in the middle of the year--”

“If you must know,” said Alex with a smile far too sweet to be genuine. “I'm here for John.”

Randy paused, at a loss. “Uh, what?”

There was a sudden quiet as everyone who had been surreptitiously watching the action suddenly became a lot more obvious about it. Evan and Ted, who had been simply waiting for a sign that they should tell Randy to get lost, widened their eyes and Mike actually took a step back, as if shocked. For his own part John looked startled, blinking a couple of times, wondering where the hell Alex was going with this. 

“You know how it is,” said Alex breezily. “Or maybe you don't, how would I know? We couldn't stand to be apart the whole day anymore, so I pulled a transfer here so I can spend all my time with him.” 

And then, to the surprise of everyone watching, Alex leaned over and kissed John's cheek loudly. No one was more surprised than John himself, who hadn't even known the guy five minutes and was desperately hoping that he hadn't traded in a possessive cheater for a delusional stalker. 

It would be worth any amount of grief in the future though, just to have had the chance to see Randy's face. The slowly dawning realisation and rage seemed to creep up on him and it took long, drawn-out seconds for him to get into a real rage. John suddenly wondered if Alex was actually suicidal. 

“You... how long...?” Randy shook his head. “It doesn't matter. You, Riley. Outside. Now. I'm gonna tear you a new asshole.”

“We're more than happy with the one I've got,” replied Alex. 

“You're dead--”

Randy reached across the table to grab for Alex and Mike caught his arm, trying to pull him back, realising that Randy's temper was about to get the better of him once again. Randy shook him off, not taking his eyes from Alex. “I'll fucking kill you Riley!”

“So bring it,” said Alex, still smiling but with a steely resolve in his eyes. He didn't look scared at all – and Mike could have told him that the lack was a mistake. “I don't think you've got enough to take me.”

“Randy!” Mike managed to get between Randy and the table, shoving the man backward as much as he dared; the two of them might be friends but when Randy was enraged then he didn't care who got in his way until it was too late to do more than apologise. “Back it up, before we get too much attention. We can deal with this later.”

“Oh, we will.” Randy pointed a finger at Alex. “This isn't over.”

“Sure thing Rory,” said Alex in a bored tone but his eyes weren't on Randy at all. The man who had been all but hidden behind the aggressor had come into view to chase him off and oh wow. A slave to quirky fashion the boy appeared to be, but that didn't hide the good looks beneath the shadow of the fedora and certainly didn't mask the blue of the boy’s eyes when he looked over his shoulder at them, meeting Alex's eyes for a moment. Alex could have sworn that the expression was almost hurt... and then he was gone, hustling Randy away before any teachers could gain an interest and get them all into trouble. 

Ted leaned over the table. “Alex, are you crazy? What brought that on?”

“Yes,” said John dryly. “Do tell why you felt the need to suggest to Randy that you and I are an item.”

Alex shook his head a little, trying to get his mind off that blue-eyed boy – Mike John had called him. “Uh, I heard some talk about you and Randy earlier on in the day...”

“If only good news travelled so fast,” muttered John irritably. 

Alex shrugged. “I didn't pay much attention to it 'til he came over here throwing his weight around and acting like he's got some right to demand anything off you. I got mad. From what I heard, he's not a nice guy and he wasn't acting like it either. I let my mouth run away with me.”

“I'll say.” Evan raised his eyebrows. ”I'll bring flowers to your funeral.”

“Take 'em to his, it's gonna be sooner if he doesn't leave me be.”

“Alex...” John managed a smile. “I appreciate you standing up for me, but I can fight my own battles. And now this is gonna go all the way around school and piss him off even more.”

“If he thinks you're banging John, then he'll probably tear your head off,” added Evan helpfully. “And everyone's gonna think that after you're little display.”

“Let 'em,” said Alex dismissively. “I can fight my own battles too.”

“I think it'll be pretty funny,” said Ted, causing the others to stare at him. “Well, think about it. Randy's the one who acted like an asshole and now he's getting a taste of his own medicine. He'll think John moved on and damned quickly as well. It'll teach him a lesson and he deserves one of those.”

“I don't know,” said Evan doubtfully. “I don't think you should have done that Alex.”

Alex found his mind going back to Mike, the injured look on his face at Alex's insinuations about dating John, and although he wouldn't have said anything out loud, he wasn't sure that he didn't agree with Evan as well.

~::~

“He’s fucking dead!” Randy snarled as Mike continued to strong-arm him away from the cafeteria before the scene could become a blood-bath. As he had partially expected Cody and Punk followed them outside almost immediately, Punk looking amused in that unconcerned way he pulled off so well and Cody looked almost like a saucer-eyed Furby toy as he drew closer to Randy--- though not within arm’s length, Mike noticed dryly as he finally released Randy.

“What happened man?” Punk asked innocently although everyone in the room had witnessed the kiss (albeit on the cheek) between John and this new boy, and those who had been close enough to hear what was said would have it pedalled around the school by the last bell that day.

Randy was grinding his teeth and vibrating with fury, so much so that Punk’s smile actually slipped a little; they hadn’t had a serious case of violence concerning Randy’s IED for quite a while but it looked as though he was about ten seconds away from doing something that would get him a week’s suspension at least.

That John had another boyfriend would be killing Randy, but that said boy actually stood up to him and dismissed him where most cowered away would be enough to deliver a double sucker-punch to his ego.

“This kid has a death-wish, clearly, for choosing to try and date John.”

“Cody I swear—“Mike huffed; Cody had a tendency of putting his foot in it more often than not and now was so not the time for him to have a case of verbal vomit.

He didn’t entirely understand why hearing someone talk about John and the new boy (Alex) in a supposed relationship made him feel worse than the time he had gotten drunk at one of Maryse’s parties and ended up waking up in a pool of his (and multiple other peoples’ disgustingly) sick the following morning, with a black eye and split lip to boot.

“After school we get him.”

Mike’s eyes widened slightly as he looked up at the unofficial leader of their little clique; he couldn’t be serious right? Sure none of them were scared of throwing their weight around but if this guy was new then all of the teachers were going to have their eyes on him to make sure that he was settling in alright… It was one of the caring services the school offered which had parents choosing it in the first place.

“It’s too soon Randy,” Cody had clearly had the same thought as Mike… Or something close to it anyway.

“Too soon my fucking ass—“Randy hissed, “He’s going down!”

Punk shook his head somewhat and then casually pushed open the fire-exit that they happened to have gathered by to usher them out just in time to avoid Mr Cole; the uptight English teacher who had something of a frightening fascination for Mike and a well-documented penchance for ass-kissing anyone whom he thought could help him gain any kind of favour in his career. If Cole caught them hanging around them he would have handed out detentions just because he could… and most likely as a retaliation to the fact that they had egged his car the Halloween of last year.

Outside Randy levelled a hard kick at the brick wall, hands clenching and unclenching into fists.

Glancing at their other two friends Cody wondered what he could say; he had had people that he liked before, but usually once he had gotten what he’d wanted the attraction fizzled out (the fact that he had, as yet, not managed to get anything out of Ted was his way of justifying why he was still interested in him after all of this time) and so he had never had a situation like the one Randy had been in… He had never been in love.

Of course Randy would never say the words before anyone else, but Cody had it on good authority that the pair had said it to one another on numerous occasions before their relationship had gone sour. And that was most likely why Randy was having difficulty letting go. That and he genuinely believed that John would have been cool with him fooling around with another boy.

Before he could actually say anything though the bell began to ring in the background; they had better start heading towards Mr Lawler’s class soon, because although the man was one of the easiest members of staff to handle –meaning he was something of a soft touch- he didn’t treat you in the same light-hearted fashion if you took the piss being late and doing his homework and that… not that they actually bothered to be wholly on time. They were rarely on time, flaunting authority and clashing with it at every turn—the fact that his and Randy’s fathers were on the Board of Directors probably had something to do with the fact that they weren’t punished for this as much as they should have been.

“We’ll take care of it,” Mike said, falling back onto some of his automatic confidence and cockiness, tilting his hat back as he caught sight of his reflection in a window. A slight pout overtook his lips; what was it about John that drew Alex more than Mike did? Not that he cared. Because he didn’t. He was just wondering, that’s all. Randy could have John, that was cool Mike didn’t want either of them…

Wait, did that mean he wanted the new guy?

Shaking himself somewhat he clapped Randy on the back and sent his most winning smile to him, “We’ll get him Randy and he’ll know that he shouldn’t mess with what’s yours.”

“Right, right,” Cody nodded his head, appearing on Randy’s other side. Although he had had a rudimentary crush on Randy when he had been a bit younger he was well and truly over it now and actually took pride in being one of the only people Randy considered a friend.

“Sure, whatever,” Punk shrugged; he didn’t much care about the politics of Randy’s relationship, though he paid attention when Evan was involved. He wasn’t far off now from obtaining what he wanted there, he was sure of it, he thought as they started to head back towards the school.

~::~

John sighed as he felt something hit the back of his chair. It had been happening almost constantly since class began and he wasn’t going to give Randy the satisfaction of responding. Once upon a time, before Randy’s ego and cock had fucked everything up, he had relished in their in-class jokes and larks, but now he just wanted to focus.

Alex was sitting up a few desks before him next to Punk (that had to be a treat for him, John thought with sympathy) and Evan was behind them with Mike next to him. Poor Ted was undoubtedly suffering under Randy’s icy silence and acid tongue, John just before them with an oblivious Zack sitting next to him. Their all-boys school would be considered a heaven in some aspects but right then John was considering it hell and wishing that they had girls there to increase the class numbers somewhat if only to try and separate himself and Randy somewhat.

Finally a note actually landed on his desk and John mentally kicked himself as he reached over and looked at the writing scrawled upon it:

 

/Fuck off. I’m trying to concentrate./

__

_/I’m not telling you anything./_

_Were you fucking him when we were together?_

_John snorted slightly at that last message and hastily turned the snort into a cough when Jerry Lawler looked up and sent him a curious look, then sending a response back to Randy, /You could hardly pass judgement on me there could you?/_

_There was a snapping sound behind him and John realised with some amusement and annoyance that Randy had snapped his pen in temper… if he bothered touching him with inky hands then John was going to kick his ass._

_Another note hit him on the back of the head and he boredly reached over to read what was written on it. When he saw what was there, his eyes widened and his heart jumped up into his throat somewhat despite himself._

____

__That was true; Dan didn’t live at home with them anymore and his younger brothers were all going to be out at routine and sporting activities or friends’ houses to stay. And his parents were both working… Fucking fuck to Randy knowing everything about his schedule despite John’s efforts to hope he had forgotten about some of it at least._ _

__Somehow he also had the feeling that talking wasn’t going to be what Randy had on his mind… It wouldn’t be the first time that he had attempted to facilitate something of a reconciliation between them. Thus far John had managed to keep strong… but he hadn’t had to handle Randy by himself yet. The fact that he probably wouldn’t be strong enough to handle him killed him but at the same time he couldn’t very well deny it._ _

__/Don’t bother, Alex is probably coming over./_ _

__He didn’t know why he had sent that, why he was playing into a stupid game that he usually wouldn’t even dream of being involved in, but he did…_ _

__And that sounded like another pen snapping. Or possibly Randy’s teeth shattering if he’d clenched his jaw tightly enough like he was prone to do._ _

__~:~_ _

__Alex didn't spend very long at home that night, just long enough to grab something to eat and check out a few things on his computer. A conversation after class had seen John admitting that Randy had said he was going to come over while John's family weren't there and Ted had immediately offered to go over so that he wasn't alone should Randy make good on the threat. Evan had counted himself in and then John had surprised Alex by saying he could come too and they could either do homework or watch a horror film while gorging themselves on junk food. He also added that Alex was under no obligation, since he knew that Randy had it out for the boy, he couldn't blame Alex if he wanted nothing more to do with him. Alex had laughed it off, repeating that Randy didn't scare him. Which was true... mostly. He was a big guy but Randy was bigger and he was extremely pissed. Still, Alex thought he could hold his own and he wasn't worried about getting a couple of punches. He didn't think Randy would actually try to kill him or anything._ _

__While he ate a quick sandwich he went online and did a little research, justifying it by thinking he would do well to know what he might be up against. And he did check out Randy as much as he could (he had a facebook and a twitter). The tweets seemed to historically be about things that he and John had done together and Alex started feeling a little bad for the deception he had pulled earlier – the sense he got from those 140-word messages was that Randy really did love John very much. The later tweets had been quite sour and there were two in particular that stood out to him; one message to someone called Justin asking why he couldn't keep his mouth shut and threatening violence and the latest one, posted from his phone while they had still been in school, that really caught his interest. //The new kid is a dead man walking. But he won't be walking for long.//_ _

__He was tempted to send a message back from his own twitter, something along the lines of "I won't be walking for long if the evening goes as planned!!" But for once caution prevailed; in honestly they could all do without Randy showing up at John's place that night and he certainly would if he thought that John was going to be getting laid. The facebook account showed up very little of note, except that Randy's relationship status still claimed he was with John._ _

__There was also a list of Randy's friends and among them, Mike. Feeling a little surreptitious, Alex clicked on the picture and was rather disappointed to find that the information was limited to people on his friends list. He was even more disappointed when he read what little he could access; Mike was listed as 'in a relationship'. With a girl._ _

__Sighing to himself, he did a little more research and found a girl in their school had made mention of the lunchtime drama on her own facebook, with quite a few other people weighing in on the subject. The common thought seemed to be that Alex was going to have his ass handed to him, probably with his head shoved up it for good measure. There were also comments on how the last person who had gotten between John and Randy had run off to England to get away from the boy, although Alex didn't give that any credence. No parent was going to let their kid go to a whole different country just because some boy had threatened to beat him up and by the looks of the tweets, Justin had been out of town before the threat had been made._ _

__He made his way to John's house and kept a sharp eye out during the walk – he didn't think that Randy would jump him but he couldn't be sure and he didn't want to be taken by surprise. But no attack came and when he got to John's house, he felt slightly ashamed of his paranoia. If he was paranoid though, he wasn't the only one. John questioned whether he'd had any problems and looked around the street before he closed the door. It turned out that Alex was the last one to arrive and John's parents were nowhere in sight, his brother's having just left. Alex wondered if John's family were built in the same way as John was (for a kid, he was built) and what they thought of John's now-ex boyfriend. There was no suggestion that they had any qualms about their son dating another man but that didn't meant they necessarily approved of Randy. Not that he planned to ask anything so personal on so short an acquaintance._ _

__John's house was pretty large and the group busied themselves for a while doing maths homework – Ted and Evan both excelled at the subject while John was at least competent. Alex had always struggled and Ted ended up giving him helpful pointers so he could at least get the questions done rather than leave them half-finished and get himself into trouble._ _

__“I can maybe give you some extra help,” said Ted cheerily. Alex gave him a slightly suspicious look but Ted seemed honest about giving help and not lording it over him at all, so Alex nodded and agreed._ _

__“Who's up for some snacks?” asked John, getting up and slamming his books closed. There was a chorus of assents and John headed off to the kitchen._ _

__As soon as John was out of earshot, Alex leaned back in his chair. “So, what about Randy's friends? If he comes after me, then can I expect a four-on-one thing or will they just stand back and let him fight his own battles?”_ _

__Ted shrugged. “To be honest, Randy wouldn't let them join in even if they wanted to. He's got his faults but he's not a coward and most of the time, he isn't a bully either. The stalking-John thing's starting to get out of hand though.”_ _

__“It's about time someone taught him a lesson,” said Evan rather gleefully. “He put John through all that shit when he messed with Justin and he's not even guilty about it. He seems to think that since it was a one-off, it's acceptable and it's really not. He should have known John would freak out and he's going entirely the wrong way about getting any kind of forgiveness. I'm enjoying seeing him suffer after what he did.”_ _

__“You sound like you really don't like him,” mused Alex._ _

__“I used to. But I just can't get over what he did to John. It boils my blood, y'know? We were never really friendly but this is a whole new low.”_ _

__“We never really hung out with his friends either,” added Ted. “Mostly he spends all his time with the same three guys. Cody, Mike and Punk.”_ _

__“Punk?”_ _

__“It's a nickname,” said Evan. “As in 'you little'. He's a mouthy bastard and he's got a bad habit of knowing exactly the thing to say to really cause trouble. If we were in public school he would've been kicked out ages ago, but parents pay for results. I suppose his parents want to get him out of the mouthy thing before he has to get a job but the thing is, he is really funny sometimes and he always says what everyone else is thinking and is too scared to come out and say.”_ _

__Alex raised an eyebrow. Did he detect a reluctant admiration for this Punk?_ _

__“And then there's Cody,” said Ted, his voice a little too carefully modulated. “I think he must be the vainest kid in school, he's worse than the girls. He's been hanging around with Randy since forever, but he was always real nice to John, or at least that's what John says. Once managed to write a short story for John's English class when Randy wanted to take him off on some surprise date – you wouldn't want Randy to do it, put it that way. So I suppose he can be nice – but wow, he sure does love himself.”_ _

__“What about the other guy?” asked Alex casually, wrinkling his nose as if he were trying to remember the name, although there was no chance he could ever forget it. “Mike?”_ _

__“Mike?” Ted chuckled. “Another one who spends plenty of time on his looks.”_ _

__“Does he ever go anywhere without wearing that hat?” asked Evan with a smirk._ _

__“I heard that he's dating some girl from the academy – y'know, the girls' school that ours is twinned with.” Ted raised his eyebrows. “I think I saw him with her and whoa, she's a pretty one. About a foot taller than him in heels. She'd probably look real good on Evan's arm--”_ _

__“Fuck you, church boy.”_ _

__“But I also heard that Mike isn't exactly the most faithful of boyfriends,” continued Ted, smirking at Evan. “I know he's spent some time with a couple of the uh, confused boys at school and there's some pictures on his facebook with a couple of other girls all over him. Then again, the girl doesn't seem to mind it so I don't think it can be too serious. Mary, I think her name is... no, not that. Something like that.”_ _

__“He's also smug and another one with a smart mouth, though he's not as funny or insightful as Punk,” added Evan._ _

__“No one's as funny or insightful as Punk,” said Ted, pressing a hand to his chest and giving a theatrical sigh._ _

__“Stop it!” said Evan, blushing slightly. “I do not have a thing for Punk, so why the hell do you keep going on about it? Why would I have a thing for Punk? Why would anyone? He's such a cocky bastard!”_ _

__“Thinking about his cock again.” Ted's grin was huge. “I knew that you--”_ _

__Evan slung a pen at Ted, hitting him square on the forehead and shutting him up, at least temporarily. “I don't have a thing for Punk,” he said again, just to clear things up for Alex._ _

__“Right.” Alex gave Ted a rather suspicious look. “I heard that your dad's a preacher and that you're pretty active at church yourself. Don't religious types hate homosexuals?”_ _

__Ted sighed. “That rumour is one of the reasons I hate some religions. There's some that think it's a sin but we're pretty permissive. I mean, come on. Love's love, no matter whether or not you're with a man or a woman and it's not as if we need to populate the world any more, it's crowded enough. Religion would do better to preach the love that God's got for everyone, not demonise people because of some quirk of genetics.”_ _

__“So, you're gonna go home and tell your dad that you're into guys?” asked Evan sweetly._ _

__“Hell no! He'd kill me!” Ted glanced at Alex. “Uh, that's a joke. He'd probably be really embarrassing about it, trying to be cool and not really being cool and trying really hard to be accepting when he's actually being a bit offensive. But as it happens, I'm not into guys.”_ _

__“You're not into anyone,” said Evan casually. “I think you sit home having a really good relationship with a blow-up sheep or something.”_ _

__“Screw you.” Ted smiled at Alex. “So there's no need to think I'm a weirdo. I'm not.”_ _

__“He is,” said John, wandering in with roughly enough food to feed a small country. “But he's good at hiding it. Who wants to put a film on?”_ _

__“Funny you should mention...” Evan reached into his rucksack and pulled out a selection of violent horror films, a wicked grin on his face. “Assuming that Teddy doesn't freak out again.”  
“I didn't freak out the last time! How was I supposed to know you had a dog?”_ _

__“I've had the dog for eight years!”_ _

__“It was creeping around in the kitchen!”_ _

__“You still screamed like a girl.”_ _

__John rolled his eyes. “You like horror films?” he asked Alex._ _

__“Sure,” said Alex casually, getting up to help John with the snacks. It looked as if they'd managed to get away without Randy interrupting their evening at least and he was actually having fun. Perhaps the new school wasn't going to be as bad as he had initially feared it would._ _

__~::~_ _

__“Randy… Are we really going over there?”_ _

__“I don’t give a shit if you want to,” Randy muttered, zipping up his trademark leather jacket and shoving his feet into some boots, “But I’m going over there.”_ _

__There was no way in hell he was letting the new boy get anywhere near John._ _

__Cody tutted slightly as he pocketed his trusty hand-mirror and stood up, brushing down his favourite Grumpy hoody and admiring the way his jeans moulded to him like a second skin. Absently he wondered whether he should start wearing his tighter pants to school… Maybe then Ted would sit up and take notice of what was being offered to him. On a silver platter essentially._ _

__Something most would kill for, he might add._ _

__“Hey, I’m cool with going--- if only to stop you getting sent down for beating him to death.”_ _

__“Where’re Punk and Miz?”_ _

__“Punk’s ‘grounded’,” meaning his parents had told him off for another letter sent home about his in-class conduct but he’d be sneaking out of his bedroom window the second they were off out for their usual ‘evening soiree’ with some of the other parents. No one liked to think about what could really be happening in these parental meetings. Too much therapy potentially needed as a consequence, “And Miz’s gone to see Maryse I think.”_ _

__Randy’s brow arched, momentarily distracted from his own evening plans, “He went to her?” he couldn’t even remember the last time that had happened._ _

__“Yeah, that’s what I was like,” Cody shrugged, pocketing his phone after checking the time and heading out of Randy’s bedroom and downstairs. Randy’s family were in the living-room, Nathan doing homework off to the side, Becky watching a film with the Orton parents._ _

__“You going out hun?” Randy’s mother called, Elaine turning her head as she heard them crossing the adjoining kitchen/dining-room._ _

__“Yeah mom,” Randy drawled lightly, “Just gotta go and get some notes for a test.”_ _

__Despite his disinterest in academics Randy usually pulled in decent grades… the fact he was one of the top athletes in the school and already online for college scholarships thanks to it helping immensely._ _

__If his mother thought anything was strange about this she didn’t say, merely asking, “Who’re you going to see?”_ _

__“John,” Randy said with a carefully measured expression of innocence._ _

__“Say hi to him from us,” Randy’s father interjected._ _

__Bob may not have been wholly comfortable with Randy’s homosexuality to start with but thanks to seeing how happy Randy was with John, how much more settled, he had been forced to acknowledge that there was nothing wrong with their son falling in love with another boy._ _

__“Will do,” Randy said as cheerily as he ever got, grabbing Cody’s arm and all but hauling him out of the house._ _

__Upon reaching the front drive Cody pulled free and rounded on Randy incredulously, “They don’t know that you broke up with John?”_ _

__“No,” Randy’s eyes narrowed, voice turning low in warning, “And if you know what’s good for you then you’ll keep your mouth shut and keep it that way.”_ _

__His parents had never been ones to abide by gossip which meant that even if other parents had heard speculation from their children then they wouldn’t have paid attention even if it had been said to them. Besides… they had asked Randy how things were and he’d said they were fine._ _

__And they would be when John got over his butt-hurt feelings and took him back._ _

__“Fucking hell Randy,” Cody groaned slightly but sighed, letting Randy know that he would keep his secret for him._ _

__Randy nodded his head firmly and then started walking the few streets that divided his house and John’s. He was walking casually, though his long legs meant that he covered more distance than other people walking at the same pace as him. Curling his fingers through his hair Randy scowled as he continued along, oblivious to Cody beginning to talk on his phone moments later; Punk apparently wanted to know where they were heading out to afterwards._ _

__What did John see in Riley? He seemed like a right toolbox, and Randy would bet his prized motorbike that Riley wouldn’t be able to satisfy John in the bedroom the way he had._ _

__He smirked slightly to himself as he considered how people would react to knowing that although John was a good boy who helped old ladies cross the road and kids with their homework and sports’ clubs he was also a man who could get as kinky as Randy himself could._ _

__Like with the biting. And the handcuffs…_ _

__Randy shivered slightly; he’d been too long without John and although he was fucking every willing partner that crossed his path he wasn’t satisfied. They didn’t make the right sounds or respond the right way, and they sure as hell didn’t know what to do to really get Randy’s engine running._ _

__John had ruined him for anyone else, and so Randy would be damned if he could pretend that he was fine to go off to anyone else._ _

__He spotted the low light coming from John’s living-room and clenched his fists; that was a slightly romantic light setting, and his stomach bottomed out._ _

__“Yeah we’re gonna be--- hey, wait for me!”_ _

__Cody scrambled to catch up with Randy, barely managing to hold in a yelp as Randy suddenly dragged him around the back of John’s house towards the garden where a window to the living-room was located. They would be less likely to be noticed there, and even if they were all of the neighbours knew Randy at least and would assume that he had come by to see John… the clandestine actions they were using would make it seem like maybe they were sneaking for a secret tryst._ _

__Almost slithering Randy approached the window and peered inside, relief flooding him even when he saw Riley in John’s home, because they weren’t alone._ _

__“Thank you God—”_ _

__“Oh man, why does he hide away in bulky clothes?” Cody suddenly mewed in distress, although Randy ignored him; this was something he had heard from Cody countless times since the boy had caught sight of DiBiase in the showers after P.E. one day. Since then he had been lamenting that Ted usually hid away, ‘lickable abs’ and a ‘bitable ghetto booty’ underneath unflattering clothing._ _

__“Let’s join the party, shall we?”_ _

__Cody didn’t think that would be a great idea, “I think we should just go—“they had soothed Randy’s peace of mind, they should just leave it there._ _

__Although he couldn’t be sure Randy had listened to him Cody recognised the signs of his friend ‘listening to the voices in his head’ and undoubtedly debating with them._ _

__~::~_ _

__Mike was hammered, he knew that._ _

__Well and truly fucking wrecked._ _

__Even though he was inside of Maryse’s pool-house with her he honestly couldn’t have told you anything about his location or indeed who he was with… Her accented whining and cooing had been long-since replaced in his mind by dulcet strong tones, and her soft curves replaced by what he was certain had to be some fine muscle tone._ _

__Maryse clearly had no idea; getting shit-faced together was something they did often and Mike always got a little absent with his attention when he was drunk. Besides… she had been with another boy from his school earlier, and so she was feeling decidedly guilty. Especially since Mike had thrown an expensive bracelet at her earlier with the claim that he’d seen it, thought of her, and had to get it._ _

__Parting with the money had been a pisser for him but at the same time he had needed to do something to distract himself. It hadn’t worked, but it had led to Maryse in her current position on her knees between his legs with his cock buried in her bright red painted lips._ _

__Had she always been so theatrical? Mike knew he had his dramatic moments sometimes but Jesus… She sounded like a low-grade porn star!_ _

__Doing his best to block out Maryse’s throaty moans Mike closed his eyes and tilted his head back, imagining the carefully styled blonde extensions he wound his fingers through were instead short gelled locks, the high tone of her sounds lowering. Godiva-milk brown eyes started up at him, that same wicked spark when he had challenged Randy present within, but this time brought up because he wanted to please Mike, wanted the challenge of wiping anyone else from his mind----_ _

__He vaguely recalled shouting something as he came, but he promptly passed out afterwards and didn’t remember when he awoke the next morning, pants still around his ankles and alone. Thank fuck it was Saturday._ _

__~::~_ _

__“We should probably think about calling it a night soon,” Ted said reluctantly as they finished their second film._ _

__“Do we have to?” Evan asked, “It is Friday—”_ _

__“I told my dad I wouldn’t be long.”_ _

__“You guys can all crash here,” John shrugged as he absently crushed his pop can and tossed it into the carrier bag he had brought into the room for their rubbish; his parents only let him have friends over when they were out on the proviso that he replaced whatever he broke and all rubbish was cleaned up._ _

__“All of us?” Alex asked, mildly surprised; he’d never been allowed more than one friend at a time to stay over except on his birthday._ _

__“Sure,” John chuckled, “Looks like you’re stuck as our friend now, Alex, better get used to it.”_ _

__The three of them were always staying at one another’s houses, not always at the same time, or being invited to join in for dinner or family BBQ’s and suchlike, such was the close bond that they had._ _

__“Can I borrow the house-phone John?”_ _

__“Sure thing Teddy.”_ _

__As Ted got up and left the room Alex arched a brow, “Doesn’t he have a phone?”_ _

__“Oh yeah,” Evan chuckled as he popped a few M &M’s into his mouth, chewing and swallowing before saying, “But Senior usually only lets him have it during the day.”_ _

__“Jeez, overprotective much?”_ _

__“Not surprising really,” Evan said, ignoring the slight chuckle that came from John before he had even added, “If he knew how into his son Cody Rhodes was I think the ol’ minister’d be slapping on a chastity belt—”_ _

__“Is that before or after he’d have to sit you down and talk to you about ensuring your own?” John teased, Evan turning bright red and throwing an M &M at him in response, Alex laughing easily at their interaction, pleased that he had been accepted into the group so completely despite his newcomer status._ _

__~:~_ _

__Ted wandered back into the room just as Evan and Alex were texting their parents – it was easier to ask permission via text because there tended to be less annoying questions. “I can stay,” he announced with a smile, he wasn't always allowed to depending on the situation but it seemed as if his parents were feeling lenient that night, or none of his brothers had pissed them off enough to take it out on them._ _

__“Cool,” said John. Alex glanced down at his phone as it buzzed in his hand, his father saying that if he sent the address and reassured her that John's parents would be home then he didn't mind at all. A moment later another text came to say he'd better be back in the morning because he didn't think he'd taken clean underwear with him. Alex flushed, wondering how parents knew just how to embarrass a guy without even being there._ _

__“I'm good to stay,” announced Evan cheerily._ _

__“Can you even put us all up?” asked Alex doubtfully._ _

__“I've got four brothers and we've all done the extra-curricular activities,” replied John with a smirk. “We've got a ton of sleeping bags and blankets. There's a TV in my room and I've got a console if we want--”_ _

__“Black ops?” asked Evan hopefully._ _

__“I'd rather just watch a film,” Ted started and then they were all disturbed by the knocking at the door. “Sounds like someone forgot their key.”_ _

__“No one's due home for a half-hour,” replied John, his voice weary and as if to emphasise his words there was another knock, more like a pounding._ _

__Evan raised an eyebrow. “Randy?”_ _

__“Randy.” John sighed. “Y'know, I might be more tempted to re-evaluate our relationship status if he'd give me a little space.”_ _

__“You want me to answer it?” asked Alex._ _

__There was more hammering and John shook his head. “I'll deal, thanks all the same.”_ _

__He headed for the door, put the chain on and opened it just wide enough to see Randy through the gap. Randy tried to shove the door open, it bounced back on the chain and slammed in his face. John managed a chuckle, while Randy simply started banging again. This time when John opened the door, he made no attempt to try to get further in._ _

__“I told you I was coming,” he said defensively. “Why is he here?”_ _

__“He's staying over,” said John, perhaps not wisely. Randy growled and he decided keeping the peace might be more important than scoring points. “So are Ev and Ted. You're not invited and I told you that earlier.”_ _

__“You can't keep avoiding me forever.”_ _

__“Why not? You're nothing to do with me anymore.”_ _

__“If you'd just get over it--”_ _

__“Randy!” John slammed his palm against the door, almost knocking it closed a second time. “You just don't get it. I can't get over it. The one thing I expect from anyone I date is for them to be faithful – not perfect, not flawless, but faithful is a must and you weren't. And you seem to think that it doesn't even matter and somehow it's my goddamn fault. It isn't and just FYI, I might have reconsidered if you were even a little contrite – but not you, you make it sound like all you did was look and yeah, you're so anxious to get me back that you're fucking a swathe through the whole town--”_ _

__“I have needs--”_ _

__“You need a head doctor, or to cut that fucking thing off. When are you gonna get it through your head? I don't want you back and I won't take you back. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever!”_ _

__There was a stunned silence from Randy._ _

__John took a deep breath – he hadn't lost his temper in front of Randy beyond snarky comments since the day they had broken up, when he had been raging but Randy hadn't helped matters and then ended up losing his temper as well. “Go home Randy. Or go find one of your fuck-buddies, or whatever. I really don't care as long as you end up gone. Leave me be.”_ _

__“I'm still gonna kill that little prick,” mumbled Randy but all the fight had gone from his voice. John felt a stab of guilt and hated himself for it. All the shit that Randy had put him through and he felt bad because he hurt Randy's feelings?_ _

__“I think he could take you,” said John sweetly. “And it wouldn't change anything. I still wouldn't want you back. You screwed it up Randy and I'm not willing to give you another chance to make me look a fucking fool. There's no way you and I will ever be together again, ever, so give it up and stop stalking me. It's pathetic.”_ _

__He slammed the door and felt some deep satisfaction in the act, although half of him expected that Randy would start knocking again. There was nothing though and he went back into the front room to find three pairs of eyes staring at him with various degrees of incredulity. John rolled his own eyes and went to the window, looking out just in time to see Randy heading down the driveway with Cody just behind him – he hadn't even seen Cody or realised he was there. He sensed the others behind him and looked around; Ted was looking right over his shoulder and Evan and Alex were peering around him curiously._ _

__“Maybe that did the trick,” suggested Evan._ _

__“Maybe,” said John. “But I think I just took him by surprise. Probably he'll be back to his old tricks as soon as he thinks of a few good comebacks and gets pissed because he didn't say them at the time.”_ _

__“We can live in hope.” Evan drew back. “They're gone. Ted, you can stop drooling over the window.”_ _

__“Huh? What?”_ _

__“We've all seen you checking out Cody Rhodes ass when no one's looking and that's probably the best view you've had in ages.”_ _

__Ted flushed. “I wasn't checking out his ass!”_ _

__“You weren't? Well, you should have been, those were tight pants.”_ _

__Ted managed to look both embarrassed and angry. “Can we get back to the issue at hand, please?”_ _

__Alex went back over to the couch, frowning slightly. “You really would have taken him back if he'd been sorry?”_ _

__“I don't know.” John sighed and took his own seat back. “I don't want to say that but the odds are I would have forgiven him in the end, even though it was pretty... well, everyone in school found out. If the roles were reversed I would have done everything I knew how to do to get him to forgive me. I can't say that I would have done but it's more likely. But now it's not just his wandering dick, it's the attitude. I thought we agreed on most things and that he seems to think it's not very important makes me even angrier than the cheating. And the way he's trying to strong-arm me into seeing his point of view. He's not always very good at knowing how to deal with being angry and there's a lot of times when I think he's serious about wanting me back – but then, his actions are showing me something completely different. If he really wanted me back, he'd put some effort into it rather than fitting it around whoever he's getting head from this week.”_ _

__“It could all fit in with his anger problems, and his ego,” suggested Alex. “Punishing you for leaving him by sleeping around and then knowing that he's still attractive by pulling those he sleeps with. And then every time he gets knocked back, he goes out and does the same thing even though it'll only push you further away.”_ _

__Ted snorted. “Damn psychology classes have a lot to answer for.”_ _

__“Wait,” said John disbelievingly. “Are you saying I should take him back? To stop him falling into some ridiculous Freudian cycle?”_ _

__“Hell no!” Alex looked surprised that anyone had thought that. “How are you responsible for his problems? I say, leave him be and you'll be okay.”_ _

__“He might still go after you though,” said John apologetically._ _

__“Let him,” said Alex dismissively. “I can take care of myself.”_ _

__And if nothing else, it might give him a chance to show Mike he was no pushover._ _

__~:~_ _

__John's house was pandemonium on a Saturday morning. Four of the boys still lived at home and both parents were present. With another three teenagers on hand, the kitchen was loud and busy and while the parents didn't seem to mind, Alex found it all a bit overwhelming and as good a time as he'd had and as good as it was to have a real cooked breakfast, he wasn't too sorry when he had to head off home. Evan and Ted walked with him, the three of them chatting casually among themselves until they reached the corner that turned off toward Ted's home and the church that was beside it._ _

__“I'll text you later,” said Ted. “Maybe we can all hang out somewhere.” And with a wave he was gone, heading away from them at a brisk pace._ _

__“He won't be allowed to sleep out anywhere tonight though,” Evan commented as he and Alex started toward their own homes, although they didn't live too close it was in the same direction. “Sunday tomorrow. Church.”_ _

__“That'd drive me mad,” Alex said, trying to imagine giving up his Sunday lie-ins in exchange for standing in some draughty church and trying to be enthusiastic about singing hymns. “Doesn't he mind?”_ _

__“Seems to enjoy it,” said Evan with a shrug. “Not my thing but I can't fault him. He never tries to push his religion on you at least and he's normal enough. Even if you can never get hold of him on Sunday mornings.”_ _

__Alex nodded and might have asked something else except that something caught the corner of his eye up ahead and when he looked up, realised he recognised the people heading their way. One of them was Punk, looking blackly annoyed with his hands stuffed into the pockets of black jeans, a shirt advertising some rock band exposing his arms._ _

__The other was Mike._ _

__Alex almost stopped dead and only managed to keep walking because he suspected that if he did stop, it would get back to Randy that he was scared of the pair of them. And as it happened, he wasn't sure that either one had seen them. Punk was looking at Mike and talking, looking damned unhappy, while Mike seemed rumpled and a little unsteady, hat pulled down far over his face._ _

__It was Punk who looked up and saw them, an odd look crossing his face – he looked almost cross but not actually at them, which Alex found odd. Beside him, Evan laughed. “Good morning. Good night, was it?”_ _

__Punk snorted. “I don't drink. You know I don't drink. Just as well, I suppose someone has to go around picking up the pissheads and getting them home again, right?”_ _

__Mike looked mortified, sneaking a look at Alex. “I'm not that badly off, it was just... a good party.”_ _

__“Great,” interrupted Punk sarcastically. “You knocked back about five litres of poison, passed out in the pool house and you already threw up once this morning. Sounds like a real good time.”_ _

__Mike gave the company a woebegone expression. “It was fun at the time.”_ _

__“Looks like you had way too much fun,” commented Evan, noting Mike's bloodshot eyes._ _

__Mike sighed. “I'm going home. I need to drink at least three bottles of coke...”_ _

__“And puke them back up again,” added Punk._ _

__“Screw you. And then I need to sleep 'til Monday.”_ _

__“There's a full weekend,” said Punk. “Honestly Mike, one of these days you're gonna realise that you're not doing yourself any favours. And that Maryse isn't exactly good for you.”_ _

__“Punk...” Mike didn't seem to have the energy to argue. “Can you yell at me when I'm more awake?”_ _

__Punk rolled his eyes. “See you boys later,” he said. “Well... Ev, I'll see you later at least, considering the new boy's gonna die. And with this asshole sick in bed and Randy in jail and Cody busy with his mirror, looks like I'll have some free time. Maybe I'll call you.”_ _

__Alex expected Evan to have some snappy (if potentially clichéd) comeback but Evan seemed to have gone quiet and a moment later the two boys walked past them. Neither of them knew that as soon as his face was hidden, Mike allowed some of the utter humiliation he felt to show on his face. First he finds out that Alex is with John and then the other saw him looking like death and ready to puke... God hated him. A lot._ _

__Alex gave Evan a puzzled look as they headed back to home. “He really doesn't drink?”_ _

__“He's straight edge,” said Evan blandly. “Never drinks, smokes, does drugs. Makes him stand out in our school, where half of them party all weekend. And you know that any sarcasm and flouting authority isn't from some dutch courage, it's all him.”_ _

__Alex raised his eyebrows, Evan seemed to admire Punk for that. “And he's rare in our school?”_ _

__“Everyone else I know at least drinks. Usually more.” Evan's voice was still giving nothing away. “Kids with money to burn and third world problems, you expected anything else?”_ _

__Alex shrugged. He supposed he hadn't, although he wasn't sure he liked how Evan hadn't excluded himself or their friends from the equation. Still, he supposed most people experimented with alcohol and that was probably all he meant._ _

__“What about Mike? He looked – well, wrung out.”_ _

__Evan chuckled. “Yeah. His girl's a bit wild. Her parents are rich, even by the standards of the rest of us, they give her a limitless credit card and they never seem to be home. It's one party after another and I lost count of the rumours about what happens there, not that I ever get invited. I think that John went once or twice when he and Randy were together. Weird thing is, I know that Mike's had a tryst with at least one boy at school, I heard rumours of more and again, rumour says that neither one of them are faithful and they both know about the other one. Maybe Mike gives her some veneer of normality and maybe he just likes that she's available, sexually uninhibited and feeds him booze. Who knows? I just know that it's some weird situation and from the look of it, it's not doing Mike much good.” He walked along silently for a moment. “It's uh, good of Punk to go and get him and make sure he gets home though. Even if he did only do it so he could shout at him.”_ _

__Alex smiled a little, even though he was still internally unhappy about this new information about Mike. “You think he really will phone you?”_ _

__“Punk?” Evan gave an unconvincing laugh. “I don't think he even has my number. Punk's never called me.”_ _


	2. Chapter One: Want Me To Time-Travel Too?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan and Punk have a surprising impromptu date, Cody tries to make a move to progress things with Ted whilst Randy tries once more to try and get John to consider making amends.

Sighing slightly as he dropped back onto his bed John flung an arm over his eyes; last night had been just the kind of distraction he’d needed (bar the appearance of the very one he’d needed distracting from) but now that they were all gone he was just left with his thoughts. Much to his consternation he couldn’t get the look on Randy’s face when he had shouted at him out of his head… He didn’t even remember him looking that crestfallen when John had broken up with him.

“Is everything OK J?”

John lifted his arm in time to see his brother Matt leaning on the door, sending him a concerned look.

As convincingly as he could (because he had hated worrying his family by moping when he had told them he’d broken up with Randy, though been vague on the details why out of embarrassment) John offered a smile and nodded, “Yeah, just kinda tired is all.”

“Yeah…” Matt sounded like he accepted this but John recognised the look on his face.

“What is it?” he asked with a small frown, sitting up and motioning his brother inside and to close the door. Matt did so with only a little hesitation, looking at his brother carefully for a few moments.

“That new kid, Alex—”

Even before he’d gotten the question out John groaned, pressing a hand over his eyes, “What have you heard?” he asked dryly.

“That Randy’s gonna smash his face in and that you’re going out with him.”

“Well,” John mumbled without much hope, “I can only confirm that the last part of that statement is untrue.”

Matt’s brows arched as he whistled slightly, “Randy’s got it out for him? Wow…” it took a lot to gain true ire of Randy’s as opposed to him just throwing his weight and anger around to make points.

“So you’re not seeing him?”

“No…” John sighed, “I’m not going out with Alex. He’s just a new friend, that’s all.”

“Oh, Ok, cool…” Matt trailed off and John suddenly realised something.

“You… haven’t mentioned this to mom and dad have you?”

“No!” Matt said hastily, “That’s why I thought I should ask, and then I could head them off on it if they did happen to hear something!”

A sinking feeling in John’s stomach told him that they had already heard something about it.

“Well, whenever you tell them—“he decided to play along since Matt was clearly trying so hard to act innocent, “You can tell them I’m still single.”

Probably terminally thanks to Randy Can’t-Keep-His-Cock-In-His-Pants Orton.

“Cool,” Matt bounced up from John’s desk chair where he had previously seated himself and clapped John on one strong shoulder, “Good to know bro; woulda had to have a talk with him otherwise.”

John laughed slightly, weaker than normal but genuine, swatting at his brother as he bounded out of the room.

As soon as he was left alone though the smile fell once more and he sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his face and leaning back on his bed. Lying there a few moments he then forced himself upright and snuck a glance at his door before getting up and then easing it closed. Downstairs he caught the tail-end of his mother chastising one of his brothers for something, and found himself glad that he wasn’t downstairs to get caught into it.

Once the door was safely shielding him from the rest of the house’s occupants John reached underneath the false bottom of the bottom of his bedside cabinet drawers and pulled out a handful of photos. The photos were all of him and Randy, and though he had taken them down from their usual placements dotted over the photo cork-board that spanned a good portion of one of his bedroom walls, he hadn’t been able to take that final step and get rid of them entirely.

A soft frown tugged John’s lips as he traced his fingers over an image of himself and Randy, tangled together in the remnants of a smashed-in snowman, cheeks ruddy red with cold and laughing brightly, Randy still keeping the headlock that he’d playfully started tussling at John with that had wrecked the snowman ahead of schedule. To think that had been less than a few months ago, and it felt like it’d been years ago.

Was he really so easy to get over?

What had he done wrong that had driven Randy to the exchange student in the first place?

Almost immediately John slammed a proverbial lid on those thoughts; he’d been down the path of self-damning right after he’d discovered Randy’s cheating (and that everyone else had known, but just hadn’t had the balls to tell him… or had been threatened by Randy not to tell him) and he’d sworn from then on that he wouldn’t do it again.

He was not at fault. He’d done his best as a boyfriend.

He’d believed they were both happy. That Randy loved him and him alone…

Growling quietly to himself John shoved the photos back haphazardly and knocked the false bottom back into place, effectively closing himself off from seeing images that showed a happier time with the boy he honestly thought he’d give everything to, and had for the main part.

And not a moment too soon it turned out, because moments later his door was flung open by three hyperactive teenagers wanting him to go out and play football with them in the back-garden, to which he grudgingly agreed.

~::~

“Wow, so he got him told huh?”

“Yeah,” Cody still looked slightly shocked about it himself as he relayed the story back to Punk, Mike mewling and feeling sorry for himself as he was curled up in his bed, but listening to every word--- through the pounding of a hangover in his head, “I just… I’ve never seen that look on Randy’s face man…”

He looked devastated, and that wasn’t a word that Cody applied to Randy lightly.

“We told him Cena wouldn’t take it well,” Punk shrugged slightly, toying with his phone somewhat, an unusually contemplative expression on his face, as though he couldn’t quite decide whether he should do something or not.

“I didn’t think he’d take it this bad—“Cody started, but even as he said it both Punk and Mike could see that he didn’t mean it. John was too good, too valued with loyalty, to accept a betrayal so easily--- even from a boy he loved.

“Looks like Randy ain’t getting him back though doesn’t it?”

Mike coughed and retched a moment, drawing grimaces and rapid back-peddles from their places on a respective bean-bag chair each from his friends. He took a moment but then managed to rasp out, “Where is Randy anyway?”

Cody was still eying Mike as though he had sprouted a second head; god-forbid that the quirky, cocky boy throw up on him, because Cody would diva him out like never before as well as force him to buy him a new outfit to replace the one he’d soiled. “He’s at home,” he finally responded and sighed, “I still think he’s gunning for the new boy.”

Mike choked on the sudden drink of Coke he’d taken, but this time both of his friends ignored him.

“Does he still think there’s something going on with them?”

Cody looked surprised, “You don’t?”

“Nope,” Punk popped the word out with a smug smirk; he’d overheard Ted and Evan talking later that day about how Alex must have a death-wish and that John wasn’t like Randy and wouldn’t have gotten into another relationship already.

But they didn’t disagree that maybe it would do John some good to get out more and see that there were other boys out there who’d really want to be with him.

That piece of information he kept to himself though.

“You think John set Randy up?” Mike managed through coughs.

“I think that the new boy has stones,” Punk said with grudging admiration, “But that he’s picked the wrong people to test those stones out on.”

Randy would probably smash his face in with a blunt instrument even if someone pointed out to him that there was really nothing going on between John and Alex.

“Shame really,” Cody mused, “He’s a cute one.”

“Thinking of sinking your claws into him next?”

“No!”

The sudden outburst from Mike had Punk and Cody both turning to look at him in confusion.

“Dude, the fuck?” Punk asked.

Clearing his throat uncomfortably (and hoping that the heat he could feel crawling under his cheeks wasn’t visible underneath his carefully maintained tan) Mike shrugged and then tried to laugh it off, “I mean, there’s no way he’d try out for Riley--- DiBiase’d never come near him again, and it’d be even more pathetic watching him pine over him!”

For several long seconds neither of them moved, and then Punk smirked and ruffled Cody’s hair, making the boy in question yelp and launch into a verbal tirade of why you do not touch the hair!

Mike sank back into his pillows, pulling a second one over his head in the hopes that they’d keep bickering long enough to forget about his little slip. He cringed underneath the coolness of his down pillow; what the hell had he been thinking?

It wasn’t just Randy that this new boy was stirring up, he was causing Mike concern in more ways than one as well.

Flinging the pillow back as the pounding in his head increased to a crescendo he doubled over. The effect was instantaneous.

“Oh, gross Mizanin!”

“Not the jeans, not the jeans!”

~::~

Evan hummed to himself as he plucked another item off of the shelf for his mother’s shopping, ticking it efficiently off of the list. His father was away on another business trip and his mother had always had poor health so it wasn’t unusual for Evan to do jobs for her--- despite the carefully vetted members of staff that they had around the house for such things.

As he reached for something else he knocked another packet from the shelf and sighed; sometimes it sucked being short, because suddenly everything seemed to be mocking him by seeming much bigger than it really was. Setting the basket down on the ground he knelt down to pick up what he had knocked off--

And found his line of vision suddenly filled with familiar looking converse trainers.

Ignoring the way his heart leapt into his throat and a blush threatened he squared his shoulders and stood gracefully, tilting his chin upwards almost defiantly as he met Punk’s amused gaze, “Sale on Pepsi calling your name?”

“Aww, you remembered my favourite drink!”

Evan mentally cursed and used the excuse of picking up his basket to avoid looking at Punk, “Don’t you have an elsewhere to be?”

“Is that any way to speak to me after I came all the way in here to see you?”

“I didn’t ask you to come and see me—”

“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

The sudden change of conversation tack made Evan almost trip over his own feet as he started down another (thankfully empty aisle) pretending not to be completely aware of the fact that Punk was walking behind him all the while.

“I don’t wear them to school,” he preferred his contact lenses, though he wore his glasses at home and around his friends on weekends when he wanted to give his eyes a break.

“You look sexy.”

This time Evan dropped the basket, glad that he hadn’t picked up anything that was housed in a glass container yet.

“Look—this joke has gone on long enough! You can’t keep saying things like that to me, it isn’t nice to tease!” Evan hissed as he scrambled for the basket, definitely blushing this time.

~:~

Punk raised an eyebrow. “Who said I'm teasing? I meant it. I'm not in the habit of saying anything I don't honestly mean, you should know that much.”

Evan caught hold of the handles of the basket, hesitating a little. Hadn't he said pretty much the same thing to Alex before, that Punk told the truth to the point where he made himself a whole lot of enemies? But he couldn't quite bring himself to believe that Punk of all people thought his glasses were sexy. Punk was probably more into someone more rebellious or interesting than him and while Evan thought he was okay looking, he was conventional and while he had his moments, he wasn't especially rebellious either... and he was short. He wasn't about to forget that.

He straightened up and glared at Punk, who just looked a little amused, that half-smile he sometimes wore on his lips. “It's not a joke and it's not a tease. I happen to think you look sexy. That's all.”

“Sometimes I think you need a smack in the mouth,” mumbled Evan, not quite sure how to take the compliment and certainly not ready to let his guard down just yet. For all Punk said he wasn't making it up, with Randy and John at one another's throats there was a good chance that Randy's closest friends would have it in for John's. 

“That's what you think, huh?” Punk didn't seem at all offended by the comment, mulling it over for a moment and then smiling. “Tell you what. Let's take this shopping back to your house and then I'll take you to watch me get that shot in the mouth you were talking about.”

Evan frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You'll see.” Punk rescued the basket from Evan and smirked at him. “Let's get everything else on your list, drop it off and then we'll get going. Or aren't you intrigued enough yet?”

Evan gave in. “Fine, I'm intrigued. But this had better not be some dumb trick Punk, I'm warning you.”

“No trick.” Punk gave a secretive smile and took off down the aisle with Evan. 

~:~

It was quite the strangest date that Evan had ever been on – which wasn't a bad thing at all. And as he kept reminding himself, it wasn't actually a date. Punk had simply interested him enough to make him want to see what happened next. 

Punk insisted on carrying the bags back to Evan's house. Evan insisted he didn't need any help. But Punk won that one and they split the groceries between them, walking back to Evan's house, Punk sitting at the table and drinking a pepsi while Evan put everything away. Almost as soon as it was done Punk dragged Evan from the house, the pair of them undertaking the relatively long walk to the nearest shopping mall where Punk surprised Evan by taking him to shops nearby rather than into the larger structure. He was only slightly less surprised by that than he was by the conversation, which hadn't been anywhere near as stilted as he had assumed it would be. He had thought they would have nothing in common at all, it turned out he had been mistaken. 

“Before I do anything else, I need to eat. A lot,” Punk told him. 

Evan raised his eyebrows. “We could get some takeout--”

“Nope.” Punk headed down a side-street and slightly apprehensively Evan followed, only to find that there was a restaurant down there he hadn't even know existed. As they walked in he immediately spied a poster of Bruce Lee on the wall, another one from Reservoir Dogs and decided he liked the place already. 

They chose a seat next to a life-size model of Elvis and ordered, conversation still flowing pretty well. It wasn't until the food arrived that there was any kind of lull and Evan instantly managed to embarrass himself by putting his foot in it. “Why were you carrying Mike home this morning?”

Punk scowled darkly, wrapping pasta around his fork. “That asshole,” he said. “I mean, he's a good friend and all but wow does he know how to fuck his life up. I don't know quite what got into him this week but he's been bummed out for a few days now and he decided to go over to his girlfriend’s house – usually he can only be bothered when she turns up for him, or if she calls him. He must have gotten more wasted than usual because he was in some mess when he called me up. He really needs to get rid of her.”

“I take it you don't like her much.”

“She's bad news. He could do better.” Punk grinned suddenly. “He could take a tip from me – look who I got to take out today.”

Evan flushed slightly, taking a sudden interest in his meal. 

“Seriously,” said Punk. “I'm glad you came. You're much more fun than Mike's been all morning.”

Evan gave a shy grin and shrugged. “I'm glad I came now. You been here before?”

“A few times. Better with company though.”

“You come here to eat alone?”

“Why sound so surprised? I bring a book and I still need to eat even if there's no one else with me.”

“I don't think I'd have the nerve,” said Evan with a chuckle. “I'd think that everyone was looking at me.”

“Well, I don't care what people think.” Punk raised his eyebrows. “Maybe you shouldn't either. Who cares if someone looks? You're only eating. And they might be looking because they agree with me – that you look sexy.”

Evan quickly changed the subject but secretly he was pleased. And the more that Punk repeated it, the more he began to believe that he might actually mean it. 

When the pasta was finished, Punk insisted on dessert - “I'll need it,” he said mysteriously – and then insisted on paying. Evan was starting to feel a little like they really were on a date and he was the one being treated for a change. It was rather a nice feeling although he had no idea what Punk's plan was for the rest of the afternoon. 

“This way,” said Punk once they had left, taking Evan's hand and leading him further down the side street. Evan widened his eyes slightly but Punk acted as if it was completely normal and Evan decided to just go along with it, secretly a little thrilled by the turn of events. 

“Here we are,” said Punk brightly. 

Evan looked at the shop, his jaw dropping. “This is a tattoo shop.”

“I'm not getting a tattoo... yet. They insist on ID.” Punk smirked. “On the other hand, I'm old enough to get a few things pierced. That shot in the mouth you wanted to see me get, still up for it?”

Evan hesitated. “Won't you get into trouble?”

“What else is new?” Punk chuckled. “I'm in trouble already. I'm supposed to be grounded right now. Since my folks are already pissed off, I figure this is the best time to do this and then they can just tag whatever extra punishment they come up with on the end.”

“Wow.” Evan tried to imagine what his parents would do to him for that kind of insubordination and couldn't. 

“So, let's go!” Punk pulled Evan into the shop, finally letting go of Evan's hand as they walked through the door. The tattooist looked very sceptical, especially when he saw Evan, but Punk pulled out some ID and then his credit card. “I want my lip pieced. Oh, and my tongue.”

“Punk!”

“You eaten today?” the guy asked, sounding a little bored. 

“Oh yeah, just finished.”

“Good, because you won't be eating for a week at least. You sure you want them both at the same time? Most people like to give one time to heal when they're so close together.”

“Nah, I can take it.” 

The tattooist looked amused. “Get in the chair.”

Punk jumped into the chair while Evan sat in the waiting area, just watching in mild awe as Punk went about getting his tongue pierced first, the needle looking about a foot long to him even though it couldn't possibly have been. It took about fifteen minutes all told and when Punk got out of the chair Evan leapt to his feet and examined the new metal. 

“Look okay?” asked Punk nonchalantly, although Evan thought he could sense nerves in his tone. 

“Yeah,” said Evan, sounding surprised. He had never thought of facial piercings as particularly sexy before but on Punk it looked just right. 

“I'll have to take you out for soup next time though,” said Punk ruefully. “I'm not sure I'll ever be able to eat again.”

“Aw, poor baby,” teased Evan and Punk chuckled, going over to pay the man before escorting Evan back out of the shop. They stood outside for a few seconds, Evan uncertain what was going to happen next. 

“I'd better get you home,” said Punk. “Then I can go home myself and face the music.”

“Right.” Evan didn't like the thought of Punk getting into trouble and he wasn't exactly pleased at the thought of the day ending. He had enjoyed the time he'd spent with Punk. But he started off home with Punk beside him, asking if it had hurt when he had been pierced and how much different it felt to have a ring through his lip and a stud in his tongue. 

It took a while to get back to Evan's house and it didn't help that the closer they got, the slower they walked. But eventually they ended up back in front of Evan's house, walking up the driveway and more or less hidden from sight of the street by the bushes that surrounded the property, although anyone looking out of the window of the house would have seen them. Evan wasn't too worried about that however. 

“You wanna come in for a while?” he asked, rather shyly, hoping he didn't sound as hopeful as he felt. 

“I'd better not, I can only push my luck with the olds so far.” Punk smiled at him. “Thanks for today.”

“Thank you,” returned Evan. “I had a great time and I'd only been planning to get the shopping in and do the homework.”

Punk chuckled. “Take care Evvy,” he said and then leaned in, kissing Evan softly on the lips. Evan was taken by surprise and only just had the chance to reciprocate before Punk moved away again. 

“Maybe you'll let me do that again when my mouth doesn't hurt quite so much,” he said with a smile. “See you Monday.”

And with that Punk headed off, leaving Evan rather stunned in his front garden, staring after him and running the tip of his tongue over his lips as if trying to regain the sensation that had been that kiss.

~::~

Sunday passed without incident for Mike, spending most of the day and night in bed recuperating from his… Friday night. When the sound of his alarm-clock broke through his slumber on Monday morning Mike whined softly and reached out without opening his eyes, groping around until he finally located the cumbersome object and shut off the irritating tone. Just as he was getting to settle down again though the door of his bedroom was flung open and Cody strode in, “Come along Michael, up you get!”

Cracking open his eyes a fraction he scowled at Cody, “Fuck off.”

“No need to be like that when I went out of my way to come and get you.”

“And just why would you feel the need to do that?” Mike pulled the covers back over his head, only for Cody to yank them away again smartly.

“Because waking Randy is more than my life’s worth and you know Punk’s dad’s taken to driving him to school,” much to their friend’s consternation, “So that leaves you.”

Mike rolled onto his front and buried his face into his pillow before then lifting his head and from the pillow to regard Cody with suspicion, “You’re never up this early. Most of the time Dustin has to drop you off at school.” Dustin was Cody’s older brother, a quirky cross-dresser whom Mike had long since learned was not a man to be crossed despite his effeminate hobby, especially when Cody was involved, “So what are you after?”

Cody widened his eyes and did his best to project an air of innocence, but since Mike was certain he’d invented that expression he wasn’t falling for it, “What makes you think I’m after something?”

“Because you’re always—“Mike stopped then as he clicked on to why Cody had made such a fresh (carefully styled and dressed) appearance in his bedroom on Monday morning. “DiBiase has monitor duty this morning doesn’t he?” the monitor was responsible for ensuring that the classroom was in order due for everyone to arrive, and that any photocopying and suchlike the tutor might have requested was in the classroom. They were also in charge of taking the register… It sometimes made you wonder what the tutors even got paid for on Mondays since none of them seemed to do much and the monitor seemed to do everything.

“Does he?” Cody feigned and then huffed and then planted his hands on his hips when he saw Mike smirking, “Yes, he does, so get your ass up Mizanin!”

Sighing irritably Mike pushed himself upright—Cody wasn’t going to let him sleep, and if he was ever considered as having ruined Cody’s chances with DiBiase then he would never hear the end of it. Not that he thought Cody stood much chance; everyone knew Layla from their neighbouring school had her eye on him (something the rumour-mill said Ted’s parents’ approved of) and he didn’t think Ted was even gay in the first place… although if someone was going to make you question your sexuality it would be Cody.

“Alright, get out so I can get changed.”

“It’s not like it’s anything I’ve never seen before.”

“Please bitch, you wish you’d gotten to experience me—“Mike tossed a pair of dirty boxers at Cody’s head, smirking when Cody yelped like a scalded puppy and shot out of the door in time for the pants to hit the floor, “And stay out!”

~::~ 

Arriving early when he was on monitor’s duty was something Ted did without fail whenever his name came up on the rota. John had been the last monitor (something that had forced Ted and Evan to act as an impromptu guard-of-honour against Randy trying to snake his way into cornering John by himself) and Evan had been the one before him, Josh Matthews being the one before that. Speaking of Josh—Ted waved to the brunette down the corridor as he noticed him.

Josh jumped slightly, looking almost guilty about something before waving back at Ted and then turning and vanishing around the corner as though someone had set the hounds of hell after him. Moments later Jake Hager rounded the corner, clearly not noticing Ted, but disappointed as though having been expecting someone… Josh maybe? Ted watched curiously as the vice-captain of their school’s football team seemed to give up whatever he was intending for a lost cause and stormed off down the opposite end of the hallway as to which Josh had gone down.

Curious, but not overly interested (Ted didn’t know Josh well enough past casual acquaintance) Ted turned and continued down to the classroom he and his friends usually used for general lessons, specified lessons of course having specific rooms, buildings and classes. The room was empty, but given that his fellow classmates didn’t have to begin making appearances for about half an hour at the earliest that didn’t surprise the blonde. 

Welcoming the fact that he’d be able to get on without interruption Ted then placed his headphones into his ears, plugged them into his mini-music-player and set about straightening the desks up and writing that day’s schedule on the board, his neat handwriting coming out a touch scruffily than normal--- but as everyone said, no one could write neatly on a whiteboard.

So absorbed was he in his task that he didn’t notice or hear the door of the classroom open, or Cody slip inside. The ravenette grinned slightly when he noticed that Ted was completely oblivious to his presence (and humming quite sweetly and dorkily along to the song he was listening to) and he took the chance to sneak up behind him. Mike was outside standing guard to give Cody some time alone, although he said that was what he’d rather do than watch Cody make an ass of himself.

Stalking up behind Ted, Cody then smirked and braced one hand on the whiteboard as the other neatly tugged one of Ted’s headphones out just as Cody pressed himself against the blonde’s back, “Hey sugar, miss me this weekend?”

Ted froze in place, a forbidden heat crawling up his spine at the sensation of Cody’s body pressed against his, “Rhodes--!”

“Aww,” Cody pouted and Ted shivered visibly as Cody’s lips brushed against his ear, “I thought we’d moved past the last-name stage ages ago Teddy-bear! That hurts my feelings you know! I think you should—“he let the moment hang a little, “Make it up to me—“he paused again, giving small, subtle and yet overly pointed twists of his hips so he rubbed against Ted, “Sometime pretty soon.”

Of course there was a part of him that was aware deep down that he was probably taking entirely the wrong approach with Ted but he was reaching the end of his patience. No one had ever made him chase them like this, and the infuriating thing was that Ted didn’t even seem to get how much more effort Cody put in for him than he had for anyone else. Ever.

He took twice as long choosing outfits when he knew he’d come into contact with Ted, every time they were at social occasions together with dancing involved he’d do his sauciest moves to get his attention and he’d even tried being nice to him--- but nothing had worked. So now he was taking a more direct approach that would hopefully spur Ted into acting.

“Do you mind?” Ted squeaked, managing to turn around in Cody’s arms so that his back was pressed against the board instead. He was a gorgeous guy really, if somewhat naïve and too oblivious on occasion, Cody thought as he let his eyes take in the jumper/shirt/jean combination Ted was wearing, his wide blue eyes fixed on Cody’s face. And…

Was he blushing?

Cody smirked slowly (delighted when Ted’s eyes followed the action) and then hummed slightly as he leant in just that little bit closer to the Minister’s son meaning that their noses were almost touching.

“Is something wrong Teddy?”

Ted opened his mouth, but no words came out. His eyes lifted from Cody’s mouth, to meet his eyes, and then dropped down again.

He wasn’t pushing him away anymore though, which Cody thought was progress; this was the closest, and possibly longest, time he had spent in Ted’s proximity, and he didn’t see why he couldn’t take advantage of the situation somewhat…

Only that wasn’t quite what happened, because Mike chose that moment to push open the classroom door to allow Cody to hear his warning in the form of an overly loud hailing of their teacher who appeared to be on their way down to the classroom.

Cody could have screamed.

~::~

It wasn’t easy to miss that Randy hadn’t turned up all morning, and despite himself John found himself concerned. For all Randy may have had days where he skipped class or whatever he always turned up around school. The fact that he wasn’t there altogether meant that there was something wrong…

Or he’d just overslept from being too busy fucking around with sluts all weekend.

The thought made John’s stomach clench uncomfortably and he hunched over in his desk somewhat before straightening out to try and alleviate the sensation. When the teacher suddenly asked if he’d go fetch some more whiteboard pens from the office he took the chance of minimal distraction immediately; anything to stop him from giving a rat’s ass about Randy. He didn’t care why the other was in school. He didn’t. It was no longer his business what Randy did or didn’t do, just like he’d told Randy.

As morning lessons had started by that point the hallways were deserted and John found himself glad; he was sick of the way people still stared and whispered behind their hands when he went past; anyone else and the break-up and cheating would have been old news weeks ago, but because they had been the ‘golden couple’ championing homosexual relationships within the school they had been raised up on the pedestal so high it was still clearly breaking down to them now.

Cursing underneath his breath John levelled a kick at a nearby locker, glancing off of it because he wasn’t really intending to hit it.

Just as he rounded the corner of the office though someone grabbed his arm, catching him off-guard and hauling him into a nearby cupboard… that should have been locked if John’s memory served him right, he didn’t think they actually used it anymore. When he realised who had pulled him into the cupboard he groaned.

“OK… This is getting beyond a joke!”

Randy looked frighteningly unmoved and John had a horrible feeling that the other may not have been keeping up with the exercises and medication he had been given for handling his IED. Not that Randy had ever hit him before, and not that he couldn’t hold his own, but still.

“Randy—”

“You didn’t mean what you said. You still love me, I know you do.”

~::~

John growled in complete frustration. “”This isn't the time Randy, I have to get back to class. I've only been sent out to do an errand and I don't have time for this.”

“You won't give me any other time.”

“Because all I hear when you speak to me is the same tired old crap and if I didn't buy it the first hundred times, why would I wanna listen to it now?”

“I keep saying it 'cause I'm trying to make you get it! It didn't mean anything—”

“And that only makes it worse. If you were willing to risk everything that we had over something that meant nothing, then I mustn't have been high on your list of things that mattered.”

“For crying out loud John!” Randy shook his head in frustration. “It wasn't anything to do with what you and I have, it was outside of that. It was just... he was there and willing and I was curious.”

“Curious.” John snorted, knowing he was making a mistake letting himself get drawn into this and yet too stubborn to let the matter go. “About what? You wanted to know if there was a better deal on the table? Or curious to know if you could get away with it?”

“Neither--”

“Or curious meaning that you weren't thinking about me at all and you were more curious how quickly you could get off?”

That one was a bit closer to the truth and Randy scowled. “That's not exactly--”

“Or are you gonna give me some sob story about not knowing how it was to be with anyone but me and this being an experiment to prove that I'm the only one you could ever want?”

“Will you let me speak!”

“No, because you can't say anything you haven't already said or anything that makes any difference to me at all. So stop trying to hijack me every chance you get and leave me in peace. Or hang around in here until one of your whores comes along and get them in with you, because I am through Randy, through with you. Do you get it yet?”

Randy's jaw was set stubbornly and John knew already that Randy certainly wasn't accepting it. Dammit, this behaviour wasn't exactly helping him to remember just how things had been with him and Randy before they had split up, this angry Randy felt like someone entirely different. And yet, he understood that Randy struggled to show any emotion that had even a tinge of anger just because it was always the anger that tended to win out. John had found ways to get around Randy's IED, talk him out of his rages, but he didn't even want to try any more. It didn't make any difference to him, or so he told himself. But perversely, a part of him wanted Randy angry, wanted him to suffer. He deserved it. As long as Randy was angry, it proved that he was still hurting and yet that frustration made it easier for John not to cave in.

“Then what can I do?”

This was a new question but John had been half-expecting it. “There's nothing you can do Randy. You've shown me just how much I mean to you, not much.”

“Stop saying that.” Randy's voice was without inflection, showing just how hard he was fighting to keep his emotions in check. “You mean everything to me and you always have and you know that so stop talking crap. I know you're butthurt about what happened, I know that but whenever I try to do something about it, you shoot me down without even giving me a chance. So tell me what I have to do to prove it. Obviously there's something you're waiting for me to do before you give me another chance and I haven't done it yet.”

“There's nothing you can do now that'll make me take you back.”

“I don't want to make you, just persuade you it's for the best and this whole thing...” Randy shrugged. “I learned my lesson, okay? No more exchange students. No more anyone. Just you. I swear.”

“Yeah? Because you're not doing a good job proving the no more anyone part. You'll nail everything that moves around here.” John snorted. “Probably stuff that doesn't as well. Explain why we haven't been getting doughnuts in the canteen lately.”

“I get it, you don't like me sleeping with anyone even if we are on a break---”

“We're broken up!”

“Then tell me how I can prove that I love you and I wanna be with you and no one else! If I don't know how I can get us past it then how can we get past it?”

“We can't—”

“There's a way John.” Randy suddenly smiled, rather grimly. “Because you still love me. So why be miserable apart when we could just be together like we were?”

“You honestly think that I could get over this? You're living in a dream world.” John shook his head and raised his hand to silence Randy when he realised that the other was about to start spouting off again. “Fine. What do you have to do so I'll get over being – how was it you described it, butthurt? You can damn well stop talking about me like I'm being petulant. You can start by understanding what you did to me, and giving me some indication that you do get what you did to me instead of acting like I'm being petty. Like I'm somehow at fault here. That's just for starters. You can get everyone in school to stop talking about me and about you and you can stop them knowing that you were screwing around on me before we broke up. You can take away the humiliation for me, how about that? Oh, and there's more, much more. You can restore my trust in you somehow and yeah, not fucking everything that crosses your path is a start but how do I know it's not too late? Go get tested.”

“Hey, I don't have--”

“I don't care. Prove it and then maybe I'll believe you. And I'm not done, so shut up. You'll have to make me not hate you the way I do sometimes, you'll have to find some way of making me actually want to be with you again and trust me, stalking me, threatening Alex and following me all over town isn't the way to do it. That only makes me more pissed off. And then maybe, just maybe, I'll consider giving you another look but only a look and only if I haven't gotten something better by then. And I know that you can't do it.”

Randy stared. “So basically, you want me to show you how damned sorry I am for the thing with Justin, prove I haven't picked anything up, let Riley live, go celibate, court you and leave you alone and somehow erase the memories of the whole student body?”

“In a nutshell, that's it.” John smirked. “And while you're at it, you could work on your personality, if you have the time. You're an asshole and I don't date assholes. Now, I have a lesson to get back to.” He pulled the door open and checked that no one was there to see him coming out.

“You didn't say you don't love me,” said Randy hopefully. 

“I don't have anything else to say to you either,” snapped John. “There's nothing you can do Randy, because there's no way you can undo what you did and there's no way you'll be unselfish enough to think about me before yourself. And you're behaving like this because you're the one who's butthurt and I really don't care. Stop harassing me now and let me get on with my life in peace.”

He slammed the door closed, leaving Randy in the space that was barely big enough for him alone – he wasn't sure how he and John had managed to contort themselves into some of the positions that they had when they had hidden in here (and the knowledge they could be discovered and there were people right outside the door had only added to the thrill). For the moment he stayed where he was, a slow smile crossing his face. So, John had a list, some of them easy and some of them that much harder to achieve. But he thought he might be able to pull it off, if not in the way that John thought then somehow. 

He nodded to himself. He might need some help, but if he showed John that he was willing to do all of those things, then he would at least get a date with John. And once John was in his arms and his, he always found it easier to say what he really meant. And then John would get his real apology. 

~:~

“What did you do to the poor guy?” asked Mike as he, Cody and Punk sat outside, enjoying the sun and eating what they had picked up from the canteen. The grounds of the school were pleasant and it was well worth escaping the building for a while when the weather allowed it.. Mike's question had been prompted when Ted, John, Evan and Alex had walked out of the building with their lunches in hand; John had ignored them, Evan had given them an almost hopeful stare, Alex was inscrutable and Ted had looked like a deer caught in headlights before indicating to a spot in the other direction with a jerk of his head. 

Cody picked at a salad moodily. “Nothing!” 

Mike and Punk both looked disbelieving and Cody sighed. “I just said hello... okay, I walked up behind him, pulled off his earphones, said hello, got in his personal space and maybe I flirted with him a little. So, nothing!”

“I've seen you flirt Codes,” said Punk with a smirk. “I'm amazed you kept your shirt on.”

“I had to do something.” Cody prodded a lettuce leaf in the hope it would magically turn into something more appetising. “He's oblivious. I've been playing subtle for too long, that's the trouble. The looks and the smiles, they just weren't enough. He probably just thought I was being friendly, so I had to get his attention.”

“Or maybe he's just not that into you,” said Mike, as tactfully as he was able. “You know, uh, 'Ryse called me last night and she said that one of her friends was out with him – Layla?”

Cody blinked a couple of times. Of course with the two schools being in a loose partnership and the students living in the same affluent community, there were a lot of people who knew each other or knew of each other and Cody had heard of Layla's interest in Ted before, but he hadn't heard of Ted actually going on a date with her.

“He asked Layla out?” Cody huffed angrily. “Why?”

“Well, as I heard it they met up somewhere unexpectedly and ended up having coffee together, spent a while talking together, not an actual date.” Mike patted Cody's shoulder. “But maybe that's why you scared the crap outta him. He's straight.”

“He is not straight,” said Cody determinedly. “Face it, there's not a man alive who could resist this if I wanted them. Damn, was Layla lying in wait or something?”

“I don't think--”

“Bitch is going down. She thinks she's gonna get him? She's got a fight on her hands.” Cody stabbed at a tomato, pretending it was Layla's face. “I've been into Ted way too long to let her get her cheap French-filler claws into him. Anyway. He deserves better.”

“Like you?” asked Punk. 

“Damn right.” Cody nodded for emphasis. “I'd treat Ted like the centre of the world, like a damned prince. She'd treat him like an accessory, like a, a handbag or a chihuahua. Or a slave. He'd be better off with me.”

“It's for his own good,” agreed Mike solemnly, although Cody thought he was being mocked by the other and scowled at Mike before returning to his salad. 

“That doesn't look like much of a meal Codes,” said Punk. 

“Better than what Mike's having,” snapped Cody. 

Mike tipped his cup of soup at Cody. “My stomach's still kinda off.”

“I'm not surprised, you were in a fucking mess Saturday morning still.” Punk's voice took on a lecturing tone. “One of these days you're gonna poison yourself. Or pass out in that pool of hers that you insist on drinking around and drown. Or wake up and find you've got a real problem.”

“A few drinks doesn't make me an alcoholic Punk.”

“A few doesn't. The amount you put away on a weekend though – that's reason to be concerned. You ever think about having the next one off?”

“You're only young once Punk--”

“And you'll never get old if you keep partying like this all the time--”

“How did your parents take the piercing?”

Punk rolled his eyes. “How do you think? They freaked. Fuh-reaked. Fortunately they can't force me to take 'em out and it was totally worth it.” He clacked his tongue stud against his teeth before playing with the lip ring with the tip of his tongue, looking pleased with himself. 

“I still don't believe you didn't call me,” said Cody, ready to start sulking again. “I mean, I know Mike was too busy spraying the walls with puke and Randy's not here yet either so he probably wasn't good company then either, but I was free.”

“Oh? I thought you'd be having a manicure.”

“Hey, I have a piercing too y'know!”

“That thing in your nose we all thought was an especially shiny zit? Please.” Punk grinned as Cody looked affronted, hand flying to his nose. “Anyway, I didn't go alone as it happens. I uh, ran into someone myself.”

Mike raised his eyebrows. “Who?”

“Evan.”

“Evan Bourne?” Cody scoffed. “You're trying to tell us that Evan Bourne went with you to get your face filled with metal. Sure, I believe that.”

“Believe what you like.” Punk swigged on his pepsi, looking pleased with himself. “We went to dinner and then he watched me get some holes. And I'm just hoping that he splits off from the group before the end of lunch because I wanna talk to him and I don't think I'm gonna be sneaking out of the house any time soon. And my parents took my credit card, if you can believe that shit, so I won't be buying him dinner even if I could get out. This dump is only worth coming to right now so that I can get a word in with him.”

Cody brightened. “Maybe you could put in a good word for me.”

“Codes, I am not wasting what little time I get to talk to Ev by asking if his friend likes boys or girls and if he prefers his divas with a penis...” Punk sighed dramatically. “Fine then, I'll see if I can drop it naturally into conversation that you're infatuated with Saint Ted and you'd be far better for him than the skank, kay?”

“You're the best!” Cody beamed at Punk and Punk shook his head, but there was a smile on his face. Much as they insulted each other they genuinely cared and it was good to see a little happiness in Cody's face for once.

~::~

“So… Did you upset the Mafia or something Ted?”

Nothing.

“TEDDY!”

“Wha-!” Ted startled suddenly and sent his drink to the floor, the leftover liquid within making a swift drip for freedom before the flow then died down to make a sluggish pool.

“Jeez man,” Evan said, surprised by the violent reaction his call had created, “Are you alright? Seriously?”

A dark blush covered Ted’s cheeks as he looked down at the sandwich that he had brought from home that day, trusty paper-bag sitting on the bench-table, “I’m fine.”

“Fine enough that you haven’t heard a single word we’ve said in the last ten minutes?” Alex asked not unkindly, causing Ted to bow his head in embarrassment.

“Sorry,” he offered again.

“Dude, stop apologising,” John murmured, though there was still a tension in his tone that had been there since he had returned to class before although he hadn’t mentioned to any of them what had happened, even at the break they had had mid-morning. Of course the group had assumed it was something to do with Randy but at risk of not upsetting John again when he obviously didn’t want to talk about it they didn’t mention.

“So—Right.”

“So what happened this morning? I mean, you’ve been like a dear in headlights all day,” Alex spoke around a quick bite of the hotdog that he had brought from the canteen. John would usually have delighted in taking advantage of their burger/hotdog days but that day he had forgone everything except a drink, a sporty-number that all of the athletes were seen drinking at various competitions.

“What do you mean?” Ted asked, though he sounded hedgy and awkward to his own ears, goosebumps covering his arms despite the warm weather as another phantom wave of heat covered his back and backside (even though he was seated) reminding him of how it had felt before when Cody had pressed up against him as he had. And when they had been face-to-face… If Mike hadn’t have interrupted them Ted had no idea what he might have allowed, and that thought panicked him more than anything else.

It was no secret amongst his friends of course that he wasn’t as wholly into girls as his father might have liked him to be but he didn’t go around forecasting it much. Sure he went to the odd social event with a girl but he always tried to make sure that they were under no misapprehensions about what was happening between them. He’d tried to find girls attractive but… It had been a pretty sudden (if not frightening realisation at the time) that all of his effort had been wasted on that score.

He liked men that was the be all and end all.

And who had inspired this knowledge in him?

The very person who was now pursuing him.

And Cody had absolutely no idea that he was the one to make Ted feel that way. If he knew his ego would probably make him even more unbearable then he could be when he got going as things stood. It had been something stupid, back when they had been younger that had triggered it, but since then his concern for his family’s reaction and the strength of Cody’s own interest had had Ted taking a firm back-seat on actually attempting to make anything happen with another boy.

Even when he had snuck out on occasion to a club with his friends he’d done little more than have a few Cokes to drink. Whenever anyone (man or woman, usually people from other schools or even outside of school-age that didn’t really know him) came over to try and flirt with him he would usually make awkward excuses and hide behind John until they left him alone. It had occurred to him that it wouldn’t hurt to experiment and that his friends would keep it a secret to the grave but… He couldn’t bring himself to be like that. Casual dalliances held no appeal for him, but then therein lay another dilemma concerning Cody: would he ever be interested in a real commitment, potentially the long-term?

Anything he’d ever heard of Cody’s relationships… Well, they were neither long-term nor committed and he could certainly never repeat what he had heard before either of his parents.

“I mean the fact that you’ve been like a cat on a hot tin roof since this morning, and even now you keep looking around as though you’re expecting someone to just jump on you or something.” Although there was a smile on Alex’s lips Ted knew the other boy well enough after the time they had spent together to read the concern in his eyes. He could see a matching expression in Evan’s. John’s eyes were on the ground but he knew his friend would have been concerned too had he not had so much playing on his mind. Maybe Ted could guiltily admit somewhat that seeing John the way he had become, the way he had been treated, after what Randy did, also made him feel a little anxious about being caught up with anyone.

“It’s nothing really, I’m fine—“Ted floundered for an excuse and finally settled on, “I was up late double-checking my Trig homework and time got away from me. I just didn’t sleep well last night, that’s all.” He didn’t want to tell them what Cody had done because he knew his friends would only break into more good-natured teasing and right then his frayed nerves couldn’t take it.

“There was homework?” Alex asked dumbly as Evan patted him on the back.

“It was given before you joined, they won’t have expected it in from you.”

“John,” Ted turned to their other friend, catching his attention, “Have you done your Trig?”

For a moment nothing happened and then--

“Ah, fudgin’ macaroni sucker!”

“Would you like my notes?”

“Dude, I want to marry you and have your babies.”

“Don’t let Randy hear you say that.”

“Maybe we can ask him to be Godfather?”

Even John couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image of that conversation and Ted exhaled a mental breath of relief; he had managed to take their minds off of the conversation prior, and hopefully by tomorrow he’d be back to his usual self and none of them would remember enough to ask him about it again.

~::~ 

Placing the rubbish from his lunch into the bin Evan then detoured towards the nearby water-fountain and bent down over the tap to catch some of the water coming from the font. That was one thing you couldn’t knock coming out of the amount of money their parents poured into the place: the water was always clean and cold, unlike public schools’ water-fountains which were usually lukewarm and filled with lime-scale. Not that Evan would know; he’d been home tutored by numerous expensive teachers before his parents had finally heeded letting him join the Academy with other students (albeit only boys, but obviously he didn’t mind that for the most part) once he had hit 11.

Oblivious to the fact that Punk was walking up the hallway behind him Evan took the moment to just enjoy the peace-and-quiet before the grind of lessons. He did love his friends, regardless of what that might make people say about him, and he always enjoyed hanging out with them and talking to them but his somewhat former imposed solitude meant that sometimes being around people (even three, such a small number) could sometimes get a bit much for him. Finishing his drink Evan sighed slightly and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. Seconds later his vision went black.

Had the ‘attacker’ not said, “Guess who?” into his ear he might have been concerned.

Instead he merely quirked a slight smile and tried to ignore the way that his heart had started to flutter excitedly in his chest, “Um… Mahatma Ghandi?”

Punk chuckled and let his hands drop, arching brow as Evan turned to face him, “Interesting choice.”

“Interethting choice?” Evan repeated, giggling somewhat behind his hand and Punk looked rueful.

“Alright, I know… It’s a little swollen right now, my tongue, so I’m pulling a Cody.”

“I’m sure he’d be pretty upset if he heard you say that.”

“Considering what I promised I’d do for him? He shouldn’t be getting upset with me for the next year at least—“especially if something happened to work out between him and Ted.

“What did you promise to do for him?” Evan asked curiously as he and Punk started down the hallway, Evan with his adorably geeky leather satchel draped over his shoulder, strap sitting diagonally across his chest, and Punk with his hands behind his head casually as he sauntered along. A perfectly natural walk for one as incredible as him, you understand?

“I’ll tell you later. How did your night go?”

“It was pretty boring,” Evan said, not wanting to admit that he’d probably spent a good hour mooning over the fact that (although he hadn’t really gotten to return it) that had been his first kiss from another boy. He’d been kissed by a girl before, when he’d been a child, when his parents had dragged him to some party and some other children had been there. He’d only been about four and the girl maybe a year or two older than that. She had apparently taken an immediate liking to Evan, declared him ‘hers’ and then proceeded to kiss him in front of everyone.

His mother still insisted it was the sweetest thing whilst Evan privately wondered whether the trauma of that was what had triggered his homosexual tendency.

“I would ask how yours went,” his lips quirked into a wry smile as Punk immediately pulled a face, “But I doubt you’d have anything positive to tell me?”

“Well, positive is that my dad didn’t kill me,” Punk smirked, “I think he really wanted to. My mom stopped him obviously, but even she was pissed.” His smirk then slid and he actually looked somewhat contrite. It softened his whole face when he looked like that making him seem almost like a completely different boy, “Actually, um, I wanted to talk to you about that…”

“You did?” Evan asked incredulously and Punk sighed.

Maybe there was something in the water on Cena’s side of town that made him and his friends clueless?

“I wanted to take you out again,” Punk said, not beating about the bush as always, “But I’m under pretty much house arrest until they get over themselves and they’ve taken my credit card so… Even if I was able to eat all that much at the moment, I couldn’t take you to dinner even if I wanted to.”

Initial elation welled in Evan at hearing Punk say that he wanted to take him out (and this would definitely be a real date) but as soon as that balloon had started to grow the pin of reality cruelly popped it. However, before the last of the air could run out of it Evan found himself making a suggestion that was so rebellious given his track-record he even surprised himself, “What if we say I’m tutoring you?”

Pausing mid-step Punk turned towards Evan, “Excuse me?”

Evan blushed a little underneath the direct stare, and upon reflecting over his own boldness, but now he had started with the idea it was as though a proverbial snowball had started down a bank in his mind and was picking up and building up with residual snow of ideas as he went, “I know your grades are really quite good but if I’m not mistaken you don’t really do well with languages?”

He had noticed from the grading tables that that was really one of the only subjects he fell down on.

Chuckling lowly Punk winked, “This an excuse to ask me to come to bed with you in French?”

Cheeks burning Evan pushed Punk in the side lightly and laughed a little, “You wish. Besides, I don’t speak French well; Spanish was always my language.”

“Spanish, French, Swahili… Ask me that question and I can assure you you’ll know my answer,” he waggled his brows as though he was kidding but in truth he meant every word. He then paused a moment and considered; Evan had a stellar reputation and if he insisted they would be studying only at Evan’s place… he could see them buying into it. Especially if it seemed like it was going to calm him down somewhat.

“I think that could work. Alright Evan; you may be my tutor.”

~::~

“Hold it right there Riley.”

Alex should’ve known that it would be too good to be true that Randy would leave him alone, although considering the boy hadn’t so much as looked at him all day he wondered whether John’s warnings and insistence had finally gotten through to him.

“What can I do for you Rory?” he asked innocently, turning around in time to see Randy approaching him. He was alone, which was something that Alex had gathered as being a rarity.

Randy’s jaw ticked and his nostrils flared but to Alex’s shock he didn’t fly off the handle at him. The way his hands clenched and unclenched into fists several times told Alex that he wasn’t quite as calm internally as he was otherwise managing to make himself seem.

“Randy.”

“Right.”

Alex waited, not speaking, and for the longest time it seemed as though Randy was going to turn around and walk away from him without saying anything either.

“I wanted to say—“his jaw worked, as though he very much hadn’t wanted to say what he was about but he had little choice for whatever reason, “That I’m not gonna kick your head in. Not over John anyway,” if he crossed him over something else, regardless of how small, then he was dead meat. “I get that… You and him aren’t involved.”

Mike had been trawling the grapevine as he was wont to do and it had come out that there was really nothing between them; and since he had overheard that from one of John’s own he knew it had to be true.

“Gee, thanks, but I wasn’t really worried about you getting me.”

Randy’s nostrils flared again but he took what appeared to be a calming breath.

And he… was he counting to ten?

Alex’s eyebrow arched slightly as Randy suddenly sounded much like his old self when he next spoke, “I trust there’s nothing between you now but you better not get in my way. I might have messed up but John is mine and nobody, not you, not any other guy or any other girl, is going to take him away from me. Remember that.”

And without another word he turned and walked away, leaving a rather bemused Alex behind him.


	3. Chapter Two: C.L.E.A.N

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Randy goes to the clinic to take the dreaded test, Evan teaches Punk foreign phrases to help his survival during a zombie apocalypse, Mike visits Alex at home and the boys are all invited to a party.

Evan's mother had decided to go to bed early, as she often did on the occasions when someone Evan tutored came to their house rather than him going to them, and his father was attending a birthday meal for someone he worked with. Evan was more than a little relieved by this; his dad could be slightly overbearing, wandering in and out of the dining room just to check that Evan was doing okay. He had no idea why – languages weren't his dad's thing – but at least that wouldn't happen that night, on just the night that he would welcome a little privacy.

Punk was due at six thirty; Evan knew he'd probably have to do at least a little teaching but in the meantime he was readying things, talking to Alex on the phone the whole time. 

“He really said he didn't want to beat you up?”

Alex chuckled. “Not quite. He said he wouldn't, over John at least. I get the feeling he'd love to throw down sometime but he said he won't come after me because he thinks I'm seeing his boyfriend. Oh, that's something else he said, that he knows me and John aren't dating after all.”

“How did he work that out?”

“I dunno. Maybe he noticed that we don't skip around holding hands or anything or perhaps he stalks John more than he realises. In any case, he knows. I tried to call and tell him, I didn't wanna say in school in case someone heard, but he's not answering the phone and I hate leaving voicemail.”

“He probably turned it on silent, he usually does when he's doing his homework...” Evan surveyed the selection of snacks he had laid out and suddenly remembered Punk's mouth, there was no way he was going to be eating anything he'd made. “Shit!”

“And I thought you were such a nice boy,” said Alex with a laugh. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“Screw you.” Evan started shoving the bowls into cupboards, deciding there probably wasn't enough time to sort everything out again – and come to think of it, he'd probably gone overboard in the first place. Then again, he had been hoping for maybe an hour of study and perhaps a movie... and perhaps a little more while the lights were dimmed and his parents weren't around. “Maybe Randy just came to his senses.”

“Huh, more like John said something to him.”

“Maybe that too. But Randy's kinda bull-headed, if John just told him to leave you alone, he wouldn't be able to help himself unless John said he'd go back if he did. And no matter how John feels about Randy, he wouldn't go back to him just to save your sorry ass. So I've no idea why he went outta his way to say he'd leave you be.”

The doorbell rang and Evan's eyes widened. “Look, I gotta go, the uh, the kid I'm tutoring's here. See you tomorrow?”

“Sure,” said Alex, ringing off. Evan tossed the phone onto the table and headed for the door, opening it and grinning when he saw Punk. 

“Hey,” said Punk casually. “I managed to talk the olds into getting us some pepsi and hell, I even brought my books. Just in case you wanted to do some actual teaching.”

“That's what you're here for,” said Evan briskly, then smiled a little as Punk looked disappointed. “How about we study for a while and then we can think about having that date?”

“So... when you said a study date, we really have to study?”

“I'm gonna guess that your parents aren't too trusting, since you've got a bit of a reputation. You have something written down and perhaps when they check, you'll be able to prove you were here instead of running around somewhere getting new holes put in your face.” Evan stood aside so that Punk could enter. “We get enough done, then maybe there's time fore something else.”

“You're a bossy one,” said Punk, not sounding too perturbed about it. “Remind me again why I like you?”

“Because I stand up to you?” Evan laughed to himself and showed Punk through to the dining room. “Come on, it won't be so bad and once we're done I can put on a film... do you like zombies?”

Punk beamed. “I love zombies!”

“That's good, I can probably make you happy then.” Evan smirked. “And just to make it a bit more interesting, rather than learn the same old tired directions to the nearest hotel, why don't we learn something you can use in case you're in Spain during the zombie apocalypse?”

Punk nodded enthusiastically and took his seat, the subject and Evan's colourful descriptions meaning he had soon learned to vocalise where the zombie hoards were congregating and where the best supplies were. Evan laughed at him a little, the enthusiasm was a whole lot greater than the talent, but he did seem to be learning something. And food, water and directions were always on the tests. 

“I think we can call it a day,” said Evan in the end, after Punk had given a relatively accurate description of where to find water. “There's enough in the book to satisfy that we did some actual work and we've got enough time to put on a movie.”

“Yeah?” Punk raised his eyebrows. “Uh, should we expect your parents any time soon?”

“Nah, my dad's at a meal for someone's birthday and mum's upstairs. She's not real well.” The last part was said a little defensively, as if he expected Punk to either question or mock. “We can watch the TV and we won't be disturbed for a while.” 

“Cool.” Punk rolled his eyes, slightly embarrassed. “I have to ask you something, because I promised – sort of a favour for a friend?”

Evan frowned. “Ask away, but I won't be putting in a good word for Randy with John.” 

“Wrong friend.” Punk chuckled to himself. “Our group seems to have a thing for yours just lately, all we need is for Mike and Alex to – wait, getting ahead of myself. I promised Cody I'd ask you about Ted.”

“What about Ted?”

“He's got a thing for Ted, isn't it obvious?”

Evan shrugged. “Well I guess so, but I never thought Cody'd be interested in more than just looking.”

“Are you kidding? He's been boring us senseless with talk over that boy for years now.”

“Years?”

“Years,” Punk confirmed. “Apparently he tried to do something a little more obvious to show his feelings this morning but they got interrupted and nothing came of it. And he wanted to know if Ted liked him back, even a little bit. A little's all that Codes needs, he gets some encouragement and he'll make his move on the boy.”

“Yeah?” Evan raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think that Cody's such a good match for Ted?”

“Huh?”

“Face it, Cody's got a rep for being a bit flighty...”

“Like my rep for being an asshole?”

“Touché.” Evan smiled a little. “If I tell you a few things, you can decide what to tell Cody and I'll have to trust you to use your discretion and not just point Cody in Ted's direction without thinking it through, okay?”

“Okay,” said Punk, although he was a little put out that Evan clearly didn't trust Cody too much. On the other hand, he seemed to trust Punk's judgement and that was something of a compliment. 

“Ted hasn't ever mentioned an interest in anyone, ever. But we tease him about being into Cody because he's looked once or twice. Maybe more, but he's secretive about that kind of thing. Ted's serious minded about things like relationships though, he would never be interested in some short-term thing – if he gave Cody the time of day, he'd have to expect that more would come of it than a few dates or a quick fling. And that's one reason he'd never be interested in Cody without some kind of reassurance that Cody was into that kind of thing and Cody's never shown that he is. More than that, there's his parents. Yeah, they're part of a religion that doesn't discriminate against homosexuality in theory, but they use gay slurs often and quite viciously sometimes. Ted might not care, since he hangs around with John and me, but I'm pretty sure when it comes to himself he picked up on some ideas of what real men aren't. I can't tell you whether or not Cody would have a chance with him and putting in a good word would just look weird and suspicious. But never say never – though if Cody were to push him too hard Ted would probably run a mile. One more thing, you said Cody did something this morning? Ted's been on edge the whole day, all nervy and distracted. I don't know if it's because of Cody but it seems to me there's no other real explanation.”

Punk looked surprised. “It's more than I was hoping for. Thanks.”

“I don't know that it'll be helpful and I'd rather you edited what I had to say,” said Evan. “But hell, if Cody's serious enough to have been after Ted for years then maybe they both need something to change before something actually happens. Incidentally, if this leads to Ted getting hurt in any way, I shall be forced to remove Cody's scrotum by force, with my bare hands.”

“I'll make damned sure nothing goes wrong then, because I don't want you touching anyone else's scrotum.” Punk winked and Evan blushed a little. “How about that film now? You can hide your face in my shoulder if it gets too scary for you and I'll even let you hold my hand.”

“And they say chivalry is dead,” said Evan wryly. “Come on, let's pick something. And when you crap your pants, I'll lend you some more. If you don't mind them skimming your ankles.”

“You'll do anything to get my pants off, won't you?” Punk's smile was infectious, especially given they hadn't actually done much of anything as yet, and Evan laughed as he showed Punk through to the living room and his impressive collection of zombie DVDs.

~::~

In truth Mike didn’t know why he had found himself on Alex’s side of town. It wasn’t hard to know which house was the one he’d moved into because the local gossips had an essential dossier fitted out on him already; according to their sources he was a keen athlete, liked spicy food and wasn’t too keen on being the centre of attention despite how he’d acted out against the school’s ‘Apex Predator’ on his first day.

Shame really… As far as Mike was concerned a cutie like that should always be in the centre of attention. Preferably alongside him, with his own attention being on Mike.

What? He’d never claimed he wasn’t selfish before.

Slowly meandering towards Alex’s house, BlackBerry in his pocket and his fedora pulled low Mike wondered what the hell he was doing. It wasn’t something he’d wondered before per se but it was something that had been coming back to him more recently. Ever since Alex had shown up everything had seemed to shift even more than anything else had ever caused it to do in Mike’s life. Even the first time he’d found Maryse cheating on him (with her mouth around another guy’s cock no less) hadn’t rattled him this highly.

He didn’t like it and damn it he was going to do something about it!

Sexual desire was something he understood and something he could work with but this… this was different. Not even when he’d first gone head-over-heels for Maryse had someone consumed his thoughts as much as Alex had. Every time he heard the boy laugh he wanted to be the cause of said laughter, and whenever he saw him looking annoyed or bothered he just wanted to go over there and soothe the frustration from his face. It was entirely too fucking sappy for a self-professed demon of desire and the sooner he did something to stop this strange attraction the better.

Before he’d even realised what he was doing he’d walked right up to Alex’s front door and knocked, panicking internally for a moment and genuinely considering doing a runner. However, before he could even think about fleeing the door was opened--- by a towel-clad, still rather damp looking Alex.

Sweet suffering fuckatash.

Mike was sincerely hoping that his jaw hadn’t dropped open upon seeing the sight before him because there was only so much dignity that he could sacrifice before his ego would start getting pissed at him. Alex looked as surprised to see him (and he looked even a little hopeful for a moment before his features were school again) before he then arched a brow and made a point of looking either side of Mike.

“Did you get lost up here?”

“Very funny,” Mike cleared his throat when his voice came out a little more high-pitched than he would have liked and arched a brow, cocking his hips in a way that he was delighted to see immediately drew Alex’s attention.

Hey, even Cody could teach handy tricks on occasion.

“Aren’t you gonna invite me in?”

For a moment Mike expected that Alex was going to say his parents were within and so that would be a bad idea, wherein he could make his excuses and leave with his pride mostly intact, but instead Alex merely shrugged and stepped back, extending his other arm into the house, “Go ahead.”

Stepping into the clean house Mike looked around; it was almost show-room standard clean, and even though his own mother was a stickler for being neat there was something off about the cleanliness of the house. It was almost as though someone had merely brought the house the way it was and not touched anything within it since. As the door closed behind Mike the naturally inquisitive brunette paused in front of a sturdy oak unit in the hallway and bent down to examine the pictures.

There were several cute ones of a young boy that had to be Alex. Since there was no other child or even elder younger-person in the photos Mike deduced that he had to be an only child.

“Who’s the sexy lady?” he asked absently, lifting one silver frame of a young looking woman with dark brown hair around her face in amusingly riotous curls, laughing and waving towards the camera.

“My mum.”

Mike started to nod but then paused; there was only one other photo of her in the collection on the side and she looked to be exactly the same age… but Alex was much younger from where he was enveloped in her arms.

“She not in?” he asked as lightly as possible, already anticipating the kind of answer Alex might give.

“She’s dead.”

OK… He’d been expecting divorce comments, not that one.

“I’m sorry,” he blustered, usual bluff arrogance dissipating immediately; this wasn’t how he had planned on his seduction of Alex Riley going.

Alex shrugged, accepting the photo from Mike and touching the glass covering the image gently before setting it down, “It happened a long time ago. I miss her, sure, but at least I know she’s at peace where she is now.” The car accident she had been involved in had been horrendous, his father had been there too and sustained severe injuries but he survived. Alex had been at his grandparents. Since then Alex believed survivor’s guilt had been the cause of why his father accepted positions which had them upping-sticks and moving around the country as and when, and why he didn’t really connect with his son past awkwardly stilted conversations on the phone or when they happened to have dinner together… all of that, on top of what happened to Alex himself some years later.

It was strange seeing such a subdued version of Alex really because at school he had always been so happy-go-lucky and cheeky when Mike had seen him thus far.

“Why’re you here Miz?”

“You can call me Mike.”

“Everyone else calls you Miz don’t they?”

“So I’m telling you different. Got a problem with that?”

“Nope,” Alex shrugged his broad shoulders and Mike was rather unnerved by the urge that overcame him to lick that exposed, smooth chest before him.

“So that’s that then.”

“Ok, Mike,” Alex arched a brow and then said, “Mind if I go and get some pants on? People seeing us might talk,” he was only kidding of course because there was no one else in the house to see them and although he knew he was a new novelty thus far he didn’t think anyone had quite settled into stalking him yet.

“Why bother?” Mike found his mouth running away without his permission once more, “I’m fine with you not wearing any. Lose the towel too if you like.”

When Alex started to blush Mike knew that he could get to him, even if it wasn’t by a huge amount considering his expression was otherwise annoyingly unmoved.

“Are you high?”

“Not for the last few days,” Mike shot back; he was used to such responses when he said some things. Hell, even his own family asked him that question with disapproving looks on occasion.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

“I won’t tell her if you won’t.”

Alex still didn’t look as though he knew whether to trust Mike or not, and also whether or not he should be amused by what was being said to him.

“You proposition everybody like this?”

“Not everybody, I have standards,” most of the time anyway.

“Is this the part where I’m supposed to be honoured you’d choose me?”

“No,” Mike stepped closer to Alex, fighting a shiver at the strong scent of fresh body-soap still emanating from the exposed flesh before him, “This is the part where you show me to somewhere a little more comfortable and I can show you a little taster of why I think you and I should get together more often.”

Alex may have dated before but he’d never been propositioned so boldly… and not by another boy.

“I’m not in the habit of messing around with people who’re involved with other people.”

“Maryse and I… Have an understanding.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be just an understanding.”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet Riley? You’re not gonna be another Maryse to me.”

~:~

Alex took a deep breath, very aware of Mike's blue eyes boring into him, awaiting his answer – and very aware that he was clad in nothing more than a towel, which could be disposed of in a single motion. He wanted nothing more than to take Mike up on the proposal and yet he felt like he should put up some resistance. Easier said than done when he had no reason to give a shit about the girlfriend he knew nothing about. 

“You say that I'm not gonna be some, some convenience thing like your girl is, but why should I believe you? Come to think of it, why should I have any respect for someone who would see a girl and then see a guy on the side?”

Mike tipped back the fedora a little. “There's no reason you should take my word for anything. I can vouch that I'm telling the truth, but how would you know? Hmm. How about I call Maryse right now and tell her? Or better yet, if you've really such an issue with it, I can text her and call it off. Would you prefer that?”

Alex was starting to feel completely wrong-footed. “You can't – a text, that's cold.”

“Maryse is cold. You though... would it be cliché to say that you're hot?”

“Yes! And, and, and I don't need the rep at school as some slut.”

“Oh yeah, the John thing. Everyone knows you're not seeing him and you were just pissing Randy off.” Mike chuckled and reached out, tugging at Alex's towel. “How am I gonna persuade you into this?”

Alex dropped his hands to the towel, wide-eyed. He was most certainly not used to this strong of a come-on. “Mike--”

Mike let his hand go from the top of the towel to Alex's waist, sliding around his back as he stepped closer and moved his face to Alex's. Alex didn't shove him away, didn't move and Mike took that as an excellent sign. He moved his face within kissing distance of Alex's and when the other still didn't move, let his tongue dart out and run over Alex's lower lip. Alex shivered slightly but still didn't jerk away, his own lips parting slightly and Mike decided that enough teasing was enough; he pressed his lips to Alex's and took advantage of the gap to plunder Alex's mouth with his tongue. He wasn't especially gentle or questioning, guessing that Alex might panic if he gave him chance and deciding that the best method was to simply take what he wanted. 

Alex tasted better than he would have imagined, some cherry drink lingering faintly on his lips but for the most part the taste was something Mike would class as pure Alex. He growled quietly, thoughts of trickery banished from his head as he pressed closer to the other boy, gratified when the thinness of the towel told him exactly how Alex felt about what was going on. 

And hell, Alex was kissing him back!

There was nothing especially soft about Alex's response either, the boy grabbing Mike's fedora and casting it aside before threading his hands through Mike's hair and holding Mike right where he wanted him. There were a few complicated seconds in which both fought for control of the kiss and suddenly Mike realised he wasn't leading things any more. Alex was. Alex had taken charge of the kiss with ease and seemed to have forgotten his earlier objections because he was the one dominating Mike, hands threaded in his hair and carrying on as if he had forgotten where he was and any reason why he shouldn't be there. 

It was Mike who broke the kiss, panting slightly as he realised the situation was getting out of hand. For him, the situation was never out of hand. Even when he was with Maryse, he was always the one in charge, in control. He never forgot himself the way he had with Alex and no one ever simply took over the way Alex had. He never let them. But with Alex he had been more than happy to relinquish control. 

He intended to make sure that didn't happen again. 

Alex looked slightly stunned himself, as if he hadn't quite expected that to happen, and Mike smirked at him. Better that Alex was taken aback as well, it gave him some of his confidence back and reassured him that he hadn't picked on someone who knew how to get to him. True he was infatuated with Alex, had thought about him more than he could ever have thought about Maryse, but if he could work his usual magic then he might just be able to get the boy of the pedestal his mind had put him on and start thinking about him as just another person. 

Before Alex could object, Mike whipped the towel away and tossed it in the same direction as the fedora had gone. 

Alex looked horrified, moving to cover himself and stopped when Mike caught his hands. Mike made a very deliberate show of looking at what was contained beneath the towel, although he didn't have to fake being impressed – being faced with Alex's obvious arousal sent a bolt of lust through him so powerful he was close to giving pause before he acted. But he had never stopped before when he'd had second thoughts and this wasn't exactly a second thought, just the sensation that no matter how many people he'd managed to seduce before, he had never felt so strongly about one before. Certainly not about Maryse, who awoke his interest and his libido but had never filled him with the feeling that if he didn't possess her he would never be able to live with himself. 

Possession might be a little soon however. Mike wasn't stupid, no matter how often people called him that and how many ridiculous situations he got himself into by ignoring his common sense. He licked his lips and with Alex's hands still in his, allowed himself to sink to his knees. 

“Mike...” Alex sounded almost afraid, but there was one part of him that wasn't nervous at all. 

“Hush,” said Mike absently and ran his tongue over the end of Alex's erection before taking his cock into his mouth. 

It was a first for Mike. Certainly he had accepted a blow job from a man before but he had never felt moved to return the favour. But something about seeing Alex naked and ready had made him feel that he wanted to do this. He needed to taste the other boy. And when Alex moaned, his hands finding the back of Mike's head, he wasn't sorry that he had done. 

Mike swirled his tongue around the head of Alex's cock, recalling that someone in the past had done the same thing to him and he had enjoyed it. But there was something weird about trying to remember being with other people when he was with Alex and he abandoned the memories, going with what felt right instead. He ran his tongue up and down the underside of Alex's shaft, inwardly smiling when he heard the moan the other gave. Alex's hands tightened on the back of his head and Mike took that as a sign he was doing something right, moving back so he was sucking just the tip, hearing Alex whimper his name before he took the other all the way into his throat. He had always thought that it would be unpleasant to have someone's cock in his mouth, leaking and invading his airways.... he had been wrong. Knowing that he was solely in charge of Alex's pleasure and he could drive him further on or leave him begging was quite the aphrodisiac. 

“Mike!” Alex's hands ran over his head, as if he wanted to grip harder but was worried about hurting. “I, I – oh, I'm gonna cum--”

Mike had a moment to wonder if he wanted to back off in a hurry – the thought of choking wasn't a pleasant one. There were two things that changed his mind; the first one something that he wouldn't admit in a hundred years – he had been with someone who backed off as soon as he was ready to cum and it hadn't been anywhere near as satisfying as those who kept their mouths where they were until the moment of orgasm, it would never do for Alex to be even a little disappointed. The second was slightly more in the moment, he wanted to taste Alex. He wanted to take everything the other had to give. The thought should have been slightly unnerving but he found that he didn't care, one hand reaching between Alex's legs to caress his balls--

Alex made some sound and thrust his hips forward, his release flooding into Mike's mouth. Mike swallowed as quickly as he was able, keeping Alex's cock in his mouth, but he simply couldn't manage it. He could feel liquid dripping from the corner of his mouth even as he swallowed as fast as he could, relishing the feel of Alex's hands on the back of his head. 

There was a moment once Alex had finished that Mike was worried about releasing him. He had never done anything like that before – and then it occurred to him that they were still in the hallway of Alex's house, ready to be found out at any moment. He was still fully dressed and Alex was naked and sated. It felt a little like some fantasy, the aftermath that one never considered. 

He let Alex's softening cock slip from his mouth and looked up, smirking a little, thinking he could brazen this out. He hadn't planned things to go this way, but was it such a bad thing?

“Mike...” Alex looked stunned but happy, tired perhaps but not angry. 

“Yeah.” Mike stood, looking around for the towel and finding it, wiping his mouth with the item. “I...” He broke off. He what? He had no idea what to say next. 

“Uh....” Clearly, neither did Alex. 

The hesitation from his partner actually gave Mike a little bravado. He moved to kiss Alex softly, smirking a little when Alex responded and smiled as he did so. “I told you,” he said. “You are not just a side thing to me. I snuck up on you a bit but I needed your attention.” 

His own cock was standing and loudly asking for some attention but somehow Mike managed to ignore it, heading for the front door. “Think about it,” he said, more confidently than he felt – but if he didn't leave, he would end up begging Alex for more and he didn't beg. Not even for Alex. “I want you. I want all of you. I'll make whatever sacrifice if you want it, or I won't if you don't. Think it over and tell me that you don't want me just as much. I think this could really go somewhere, but if you don't I can leave you alone.”

Mike realised he was babbling and exited quickly, half-hoping that Alex would chase after him and call him back. But he didn't. And why should he? He wasn't the one with the stiff cock and the trek home before he could do anything about it. 

Still....

Mike thought back to what had happened and found himself smiling. He could taste Alex in his mouth still and he thought that as thirsty as he was, he'd put off having a drink for a while. He didn't know why he had acted so madly but at the same time, he wasn't sorry that he had. 

~:~

Randy didn't appreciate having to go to the pox clinic. Not at all. Surely John should have known he could tell if someone had something just by looking at them?

Apparently though John wasn't going for that argument and so Randy had booked himself into the private clinic nearby, the one where he could get answer in 48 hours rather than three weeks and charge it to his credit card. He wanted the answer to John's questions as soon as possible and then he could get on with the next part. The trouble was that they insisted on seeing him in person instead of just telling him by text and forwarding the corroborating evidence to him via snail mail. Randy hated that kind of thing and it was only because of John he was in the waiting room anticipating his results. 

Oh hell, what if he did have something? He hadn't been wholly discriminating while he and John had been split. Especially not in the first two weeks. What if he'd picked up crabs? John would never look at him again. Or worse, what if he had AIDS? He'd never look at John again, because he wasn't a complete asshole and he wasn't about to spread something incurable to anyone. Especially not to someone he loved. 

“Randal Orton?”

He looked up and indicated to the nurse, who gestured him to go into a side room. She nodded at him to sit and he did so, suddenly coldly aware he had something that would keep John away from him forever. 

“Your results are back,” she said to him coldly. “You're clean.”

Randy paused. The tone of voice had made him assume he had picked up something and was at odds with the news. “I'm good?”

“No, you're clean. No diseases.” The nurse leaned over the desk. “But I read the statement you made when you came in and filled out the questionnaire. The risk you're running, it's just – mad. I see here you had the same partner for a long time and then you have a lot of blanks. That's bad. That's stupid. What happened?”

“My boyfriend dumped me,” said Randy bluntly. “Doesn't seem to matter now.”

The nurse’s face softened a little. “You won't be saying that when you're noticing the whiteheads on your balls. Or when some girl says she's expecting half your income for the next eighteen years. Seriously Randal, think. About yourself if you're not thinking of the other boy. You're young and you have a whole life ahead of you, which is gonna be a lot less enjoyable if you pick up crabs, or syphilis. If you want to run around getting even, use a condom.”

“I did,” said Randy, a little perturbed at speaking to someone as old as his mother about his sex life. “He insists I get a test before I go near him again. Revenge kinda backfired.”

“Ah.” The nurse leaned back. “If you practice safe sex, that's good for you. I hope things work out for you two. If it doesn't, remember what I said. Your future isn't worth swapping for growths on your balls.”

Randy grimaced. “That works, doesn't it?”

“Oh yeah. That's why I use it.”

“Well... thanks.” Randy left the room and picked up his test results in print form. John needed to see this. 

~::~

“I dunno JoMo..”

“C’mon J!” John Morrison, a kid John vaguely knew from his science class (he and his girlfriend were already successful teenage models, and loved each other maybe a little less than they loved themselves) had just asked him if he fancied going to a mixed party that weekend and John wasn’t sure he fancied it. He knew that many girls liked him –and he wasn’t being egotistical there, most of them told him so themselves- and now that he was without Randy some of them might try something.

“I dunno…” he repeated leerily.

“It’ll be a good way to get your mind off of everything that’s happened recently,” JoMo wheedled and although John was uncomfortably aware of what he was referring to he appreciated that the other boy at least had the tact not to come out and say it aloud.

“I’ll think about it. I’ll text you OK?”

“Sure thing man, you’ve got my Facebook,” JoMo clapped John on the shoulder and grinned brightly, exposing perfectly white and straight teeth, “Just give me a buzz when you know the answer.” And without so much as a by your leave the Parkour Prince as he was locally known, went wandering off down the hallway to do goodness knew what… probably some sort of crazy-ass balancing meditation tricks off of some lockers or something.

“John?”

The brunette tensed and sighed before turning and eying Randy wearily, “What?”

Randy looked almost uncomfortable, like a child who had been warned by a parent that they had better apologise to so-and-so for such-and-such or else.

“Can I… Can we talk a minute?”

“If this is another cheap trick Randy—“John started, surprised when Randy merely shook his head.

“No trick. Honest, just two minutes. I have something to show you.”

He was so unusually mellow that John could only think of one thing, “Have you taken anything?” he lowered his voice out of respect for Randy despite all that he had done to him because it wasn’t especially well-known that he actually took medication for the IED. Since John had been with him Randy had needed to take less, but given how he’d been recently John doubted he’d been taking it at all.

Ducking his head Randy mumbled something unintelligible and then jerked his head towards an unoccupied classroom.

Feeling a little weary with Randy seeming in such a strange mood John followed, hoping that should things get out of hand they would be interrupted beforehand. “So, what is it?”

Randy silently handed him a folded sheet of paper.

Arching a brow John opened it.

Despite himself his cheeks flushed red at the implication of what the results were over, but that didn’t stop his eyes from greedily devouring the information contained therein.

Clean. Randy was clean. Thank Jesus.

Outwardly though he strived to remain casual as he folded the note back up and then handed it back to him, “Congratulations. Nice to know karma hasn’t punished you for being so stupid.” Somewhat to his surprise Randy didn’t even flinch at the barb whereas usually it would have lit him off like an incendiary device.

“Thanks. So, that’s one thing not counting against me right?”

John didn’t exactly know where Randy was going with this and eyed him a little, “Right…” he agreed slowly.

Seemingly satisfied with that Randy then smiled, a smile that made his face soften and he looked as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. John didn’t click on in that moment that that was usually the expression Randy used to his mother who maintained that he could do no wrong, much like his father did, but Bob at least had more of an idea as to what Randy had gotten up to it the past.

“That’s all I wanted, you can go and do what you needed to do now.”

As Randy reached the door John couldn’t help but sputter, “That’s it?” almost since the moment he dumped him Randy had been hounding him everywhere he could, even sending him messages via text and Facebook, and normally he’d be using whatever seduction techniques and charm he could to try and get them both back together. And now, suddenly, there was nothing. Not only had Randy actually gone and gotten tested as John had requested but he wasn’t even attempting to grope him or make some dumb suggestion about why John should have gotten over everything long ago.

Blinking as though he was genuinely confused Randy asked, “Should there be something else?”

A strange feeling of disappointment and fear welled within John as he mumbled, “Nothing. Forget it,” and watched as Randy seemed to consider it for a moment before taking John at his word for the first time in what seemed like forever and left him alone.

Despite everything John had tried to assure himself about over the past few weeks as the door closed behind Randy John couldn’t help but think suddenly: what if Randy was finally going off of him? He had no way of knowing that he couldn’t have been more wrong, and as such his mind went off on to a huge tangent about how Randy would soon come to realise he could just cut his losses with John and the whole grovelling-to-get-him-back-thing and he could have anyone he wanted pretty much. Hadn’t he already been proving that to himself by having so many people spreading their legs for him?

Meanwhile, outside of the classroom, Randy lingered out of sight.

As John agonised and wondered, Randy was grinning to himself as though he had just achieved something great.

And he had for the main; he’d laid the foundations for his plan to get John back, and he had the feeling that now this initial step was out of the way it would be nowhere near as hard. The fact that John was now in the classroom second-guessing himself was enough for Randy to know that John really did still care about him regardless of everything else that he might say or do.

Step two could come at the party Morrison was planning, Randy thought to himself as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, dialling one of his only genuine female friends (and one he hadn’t even slept with at that) Mickie, as he went, to arrange things.

~::~

“So… You actually offered to chuck Maryse?” Cody and Mike were actually good at sports but they had little interest in PE classes when the class wasn’t focused on a particular activity that they were good at and as such they often spent most classes lounging aside in their sports gear without a care in the world, their phones out and not the slightest bit bothered about detentions. Punk was standing with Randy away from most of the peers in their group but keen to put them in their places; the fact that John and Evan were the ones next up to do the hundred-metre sprint could have also had something to do with their sudden attention.

“Why not?” Mike murmured, eyes fixated on Alex as he laughed at something Ted said, the pair stretching out together as they were due to run next.

Cody had been all but drooling over the way the naturally tight white shorts fit to Ted’s ass almost the second he’d seen the boy change that morning… Not that he’d been peeping. Much.

“Cause you’re supposed to be madly in love with her?”

“Please… I haven’t loved her since the first time I bedded her.”

“Ouch Mikey--- but not like I can say anything about bedding girls,” Cody shrugged as he reclined back into the grass somewhat, idly pulling blades free as he waited for a text message to come through from his elder brother.

“Self-love doesn’t count, you’re right.”

“Haha, so funny,” Cody rolled his eyes, then pausing as Ted and Alex made their way over to the starting line, John and Evan slowly meandering back at a walk though lingering at the edge to watch their friends, “So… You turned up at his house, told him you wanted him and told him you’d chuck your girlfriend to do it… What happened then?”

Cody was a motor-mouth but he could keep quiet where it counted… and Mike was just bursting to tell someone about what he had reduced Alex to with his admittedly inexperienced blow-job.

“I sucked his cock.”

“You slut!”

The yelp drew some attention to them but when they realised where the exclamation had come from they all returned back to what they were doing. Alex’s eyes hovered over Mike uneasily, and not just because he was a little worried about how fast the news would spread over school if he told anyone; he was uncertain because the mere sight of Mike was causing a ball of tension to grow in his stomach, even worse than before, remembering those eager lips and wicked whispered promises.

“Shout it louder Codes; I don’t think people over in the language labs heard you.”

“Sorry!” Cody said sheepishly but eagerly leant in, “So? Was it worth it?”

“Well, I certainly had no complaints…” no, most unnervingly he had gone to bed that night and pleasured himself to the point where his wrist ached and his mind was filled with images of himself being stuffed to the brim with that beautiful cock to feel Alex coming apart inside of him the way he’d come apart in his mouth before.

The amusingly lascivious look on Cody’s face suddenly melded into a slightly sad look, “You can pull a guy you’ve known less than a week… I can’t even get the guy I’ve liked for years alone to have a conversation with me.”

For the moment Mike was sympathetic enough not to gloat; it wasn’t often Cody really cared about people he wanted to bed, and the fact that Ted meant more was something they couldn’t mess with in good conscience. “Well…” Cody was stuck really, because Ted was someone who hadn’t responded to subtle and yet overly suggestive was clearly frightening him off, “Maybe you just need to have him get to know you. Y’know, outside of school maybe.”

“How would I do that?”

Mike looked awkward a moment, “JoMo’s having a party,” he and Mike were childhood friends though they didn’t hang out as much as they once had due to wavering interests and JoMo having little interest in doing anything outside of Parkour when it didn’t involve his girlfriend, “And I know Layla’s already sort of floated the idea where Ted’s parents’ll hear. Though of course the party’ll be downplayed for what it actually is.”

Cody immediately felt his hackles rising, “That whore—“if she thought she was going to get Ted drunk and seduce him she had another thing coming!

“And you’re not?” Mike joked, Cody seeming pulled from a tantrum pointedly at the quip.

“Only for those it counts for.”

“So those rumours about you and Randy were true?”

“Oh shut up!” Cody laughed, elbowing him, “At least I’m not the one who tried to snog Punk when I was shit-faced at the last party—”

“I did not!”

“Did so!”

“Did not!”

“Did so did so did so!”

“And how old are we both turning this year?”

The bickering pair turned in time to see their amused friends joining them, Randy asking, “What’re you arguing about?”

Cody thought quickly in case Mike didn’t want to do a big group share yet, “Who’s chosen the hottest outfit for the party this Friday night.”

“You two have such intelligent conversations.”

“Just because you’ll turn up in jeans and a hoody Punk; don’t you think Bourne might appreciate some effort?”

“If I start dressing like you I’ll probably scare him off.”


	4. Chapter Three: Party Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the Night of JoMo's party and (most of) the boys are ready to play.

It didn't take long for JoMo's party to go from a few people hanging out to a huge affair, with everyone who was anyone planning to go and those who weren't invited desperately trying to figure out some way to crash. It was far more anticipated than anything Maryse had ever put on Mike thought (rather smugly) because she never invited anyone other than her own circle and occasionally his friends, while JoMo had gone all-out. Mike was unsurprised when he was invited and with some roundabout questioning found that Alex had been invited as well – JoMo joked that he was hoping that Randy and Alex would provide the entertainment, that four beers and Randy would cave the new kids face in. Mike however knew that should Randy try that, John would never take him back and Randy wanted John slightly more than he wanted to protect his pride. 

However, Randy had been known to act without thinking and so Mike had decided to distract Alex for him. Hey, he was just being a good friend, right? It would keep Randy out of trouble and hopefully get him back with John so he could stop walking around in a foul mood... and okay, perhaps Mike would get something out of it too. 

He wasn't entirely sure what to do next about Alex. He had rather thought that the other would approach him in school and Mike had made it easy for him to do so – but he hadn't. Was he playing hard to get or something or did he want to pretend the whole interlude hadn't happened? Mike had to hope it wasn't the latter, that would not only be a blow to his pride but he really wanted Alex, in a way he didn't remember wanting anyone in his life before. 

Of course, it probably didn't help that he hadn't actually gotten around to ditching Maryse yet. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried. He had gone to her house and tried to start the conversation only to be cut off as she insisted on modelling every item in her seemingly endless wardrobe ahead of JoMo's party. When he had cut in, she had given him a stern look and announced that her outfit was far more important than anything he might have to say. Mike, bored to tears by the array of tight pink dresses and not even remotely aroused by the flesh she displayed between squeezing into the clothes, had eventually made his excuses and left. He couldn't bring himself to care if she had noticed it was the first time ever he had displayed an interest in his homework. 

But it wasn't Maryse on his mind and after much debate, Mike decided that he would have to be the one to approach Alex. It was Wednesday before he got the chance, noticing that Alex made his excuses to the group he seemed to have become a firm part of and heading off somewhere at lunch. Mike followed him, finding that Alex had apparently decided to check some books from the library. Wow, the school had a library? Who knew? He'd certainly never used it, surely research was what Wikipedia was for and only then when no one had put an essay on the 'net already. 

He snuck up behind Alex as the other boy read the blurb on the back of a history book, whispering almost directly into his ear. “Guess who?”

“John?”

Mike pouted. “You're not funny.”

Alex turned, the book still in his hand. “I wondered when you were planning to follow up on your visit.”

“Well...” Mike shrugged. “I was wondering if you'd talk to me. After all, I made the first move, you could at least set up the second date.”

“I wasn't aware you'd call that a first date.”

“Oh come on, it was better than taking you to a movie, wasn't it?” Mike winked with a confidence he didn't wholly feel. Alex was playing it very cool and he didn't quite know how to react. “I didn't see you complaining. So, party, Friday night. You thinking of coming along?”

“I don't know. I'm aware I was only invited so everyone could watch Orton kick my head off.”

“Nah, I had words with JoMo to make sure you were on the list.” Mike raised his eyebrows. “Come on, it's like our second date.”

“I'm not sure being seen with you is gonna help my reputation any.” Alex lowered his voice still further. “I don't know what you've been telling people about me--”

Mike looked perplexed. “Huh? What're you talking about? No one in school knows--”

“You told Cody!”

“Oh, yeah.” Mike recalled Cody's loud reaction. “Well, no one knew what he was talking about. Okay, shouting about. I should have known better than to share it when we were around people, he's not what you'd call subtle, but he didn't yell your name or anything. Apart from him, I haven't told anyone. Punk wouldn't approve and Randy still gets into a sulk when your name's mentioned.”

“Punk wouldn't approve? Why do you care?”

“I don't really. He doesn't approve of much that I do. But he'd say I got the etiquette all wrong or something. That I shouldn't have dined and dashed.” He chuckled when Alex started blushing, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. “Seriously, he'd say if I really liked you I would have gone about things differently, while I say that I wasn't sure you'd give me the time of day and wanted to do whatever it took to get your attention.”

“Well...” Alex still looked flushed. “You got that. I just don't understand...”

Mike shrugged. “What's to understand?”

Alex frowned, catching Mike's eyes. “Am I some kind of game to you? Is this some big joke to fuck me up at this party?”

“What?” Mike's jaw dropped, his face registering incredulity. “No! Why would I do something like that? I like you, I went over to your house with no idea how I was gonna approach you and – I uh, sometimes I act without engaging my brain first but I did what I wanted to. It's not some big conspiracy to set you up for public humiliation. It's not some plot for revenge... fuck! I don't know how people behaved at your last school but there's no way I'd do something like that. Is that all you think I am, some puppet in Randy's games? Hell, Randy doesn't give a shit about you now he knows you're not all over his ex every chance you get and even if he did, I'm not some yes-man to the mighty leader!”

“I'm sorry--”

“You should be.”

“But you haven't split with your girlfriend yet.”

“No, because when I went over there to do it, she wouldn't listen to me. I told you to let me do it by text, she might have taken some notice then. It's not as if I don't plan on doing...” Mike shook his head. “I can't believe you think I was playing with you. I can't believe you honestly think I'd suck your fucking cock because I wanted to pull some nasty joke on you, someone else's nasty joke no less.”

“Mike--” Alex caught his arm, looking contrite. “I'm sorry. It's just – you took me by surprise, I didn't know what else to think--”

“You didn't think that it might just be that I honestly liked you? That the sight of you in a towel might have overcome my common sense – because that's how it happened, by the way. I actually was just gonna get your phone number.” 

Alex was a little taken aback by Mike's genuine hurt and tried to backpedal as fast as he could. “I didn't really think that was what it was, it's just – you've never even spoken to me before.”

“That's what I went over for!”

“Right.” Alex licked his lips, suddenly very worried. The whole week he had thought of nothing but Mike and how it was as if every casual fantasy he'd had about the boy had suddenly come true, but there had been a part of his mind that refused to believe that something this good could actually happen to him. No one did something like that on a whim, he had assumed that there was something else behind it – but he couldn't deny, he had hoped that there was some genuine emotion behind it. However, with some of the things he had heard about Randy's little group, how Mike apparently had some knockout as a girlfriend and yet they both cheated blatantly on one another with whatever gender took their fancy at the time. It made him suspicious and now he was cursing himself. 

“You were the first, y'know.”

Alex snorted. “Like I really believe that.”

“I don't mean it like that,” said Mike sharply. “You're the first guy I ever got on my knees for. Thanks for the kick in the balls.”

He turned to leave and Alex grabbed his arm before he could go anywhere. “Look,” he said hurriedly, throwing caution to the wind – he liked Mike a lot and he couldn't believe his own stupid suspicions had sunk things before they could really even begin. “I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. Forget about the party, why don't we meet up tomorrow night? I'll even let you have my phone number.”

“Don't you have some big dumb rah-rah sports thing tomorrow?”

Alex was a little surprised that Mike knew he'd already been invited to play for the school team, but then again if Mike really was paying as much attention to him as he claimed then why wouldn't he know? “Yeah, but it's not gonna be all night. Maybe we could uh, grab coffee or something?”

Mike hesitated and for a moment Alex thought he was going to refuse. Then he shrugged. “Okay then. But after that comment, you're buying.”

“It's our second date, remember? I think it's my turn.” Alex pulled his phone out. “Give me your number, I'll text you when I'm done. I'll come pick you up.”

Mike took the phone from Alex and typed in his information quickly. “There. Text me when you're done, otherwise my feelings are gonna be hurt.”

Alex glanced at the phone and raised his eyebrows. “Please tell me you didn't put your name as the 'demon of desire' on my phone.”

“Might as well get used to calling me that.” Mike winked and headed off, leaving Alex still a little bemused but at least reassured that Mike wasn't playing some elaborate prank on him. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been led by the nose sadly, but he didn't think that anyone could fake the outrage that Mike had shown at the suggestion. 

And just maybe, after all his fuck-ups, he'd be getting a chance with Mike after all.

~::~

It seemed to be no time at all until the big party.

Ted seemed unaccountably nervous (though that could be because his father finally granting him permission to go was rather last minute and so he had kind of thrown an outfit together and hadn’t quite mentally prepared him for the fact that he could potentially interact with Cody again— the prospect of Layla being there honestly didn’t even cross his mind) whereas Evan seemed giddy, but was trying his hardest not to appear so. John seemed a bit leery with expectancy that something might happen (Randy had been keeping his distance that last week aside from the occasional general text to ask how he was and saying hi to him in the corridors, and honestly John wasn’t sure how he felt about that) and Alex… was nowhere to be seen.

His friends had been somewhat surprised and a touch put-out when he had said he couldn’t go, but his somewhat vague explanation of, “Having things to take care of at home,” was accepted without much complaint. They didn’t quite know the extent of Alex’s home situation but they knew that his mother was dead and as such he spent more time at home more often than not taking care of things as his father was rarely there.

“Is everyone ready?” Evan asked lightly, looking dorkily cute in his black/white/grey chequered shirt and the dark blue jeans he was wearing. He had forgone his glasses, but mainly because he had been concerned of what might happen to them should people get rowdy; he always seemed to find himself at the receiving end of many bumps and knocks when there were many people all congregated together and all.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Ted mumbled, pulling at the collar of his plain white shirt and dusting his hands over his light blue jeans. The ensemble was the same simple attractiveness that Ted himself possessed and Evan didn’t doubt that his friend would attract much attention that night--- most likely from Cody.

John was also in jeans and a shirt, having been told that his usual basketball top and jorts would not suffice for the party occasion… meaning JoMo had threatened to set Melina and some of her girlfriends on him to dress him if he even considered turning up to his home dressed like that.

“Let’s just get this over with,” maybe a good old-fashioned piss-up was just what he needed to clear his mind of all the shit that had/hadn’t been going on recently.

“Oh, come on guys,” Evan bolstered, knowing there was every chance that he had put in such effort with his appearance and was so eager over nothing (Punk was still grounded after all and though the tutoring sessions with Evan seemed to be smoothing some things over it still wasn’t enough to get him out from underneath the constant watchful eyes of his parents) but he couldn’t help but feel keen over a change of pace anyway. He wasn’t a huge piss-up drinker though he enjoyed the times when he had his friends had gotten some drinks and just hung out together as they’d had them. There was a part of him that had considered that Punk wouldn’t want to be around him if he even so much as had one beer… but then he reflected he was being silly; he didn’t like Punk enough that he was going to start changing aspects of his personality to seem more appealing to him.

That didn’t mean that he still hadn’t especially chosen the jeans he was wearing for a reason…

“Are we walking down there?” Evan asked.

“I’ll be the designated driver,” Ted responded immediately and then looked apologetic, “I’ve got a two am curfew—“which was very, very generous of his parents considering usually they wouldn’t let him stay out past midnight, “So I’m afraid if you end up wanting to stay much longer you’ll have to make your own way home. Or crash there.”

JoMo had pretty much said people could crash at his place if they wanted to, though how he’d managed to swing that on top of such an undoubtedly raucous party past his parents Ted couldn’t even begin to imagine. His own parents got leery over the thought of him even having John and Evan over to order junk food and sleepover when it was his birthdays, and they had known them for years.

“I’ll probably blow out of there by ten,” John murmured as they started making their way downstairs, bidding his parents goodbye and walking over to where Ted’s car was parked from how he’d driven over anticipating that he’d be the driver.

“That’s not the right attitude to have, John,” Evan chided lightly and despite himself John couldn’t help but quirk a smile.

“And what should be my attitude Ev, you big party animal you?”

“You should be getting as wasted as possible, so that we can make fun of you tomorrow when you’re hungover.”

“What about if you’re hungover?”

“At least I know that I won’t have someone attempting to date-rape my drinks—”

“You still don’t believe us that that was why you got so sick last time?”

“Of course not! I’m just allergic to kiwi and it was in the drink’s lining!”

~::~

“What do you mean you’re not going?”

Mike looked back at Cody through his vanity mirror and arched a brow as he paused in the meticulous styling of his hair that he had been engaging in.

“I mean what I say: I have other more interesting plans to attend to.”

Cody’s brow furrowed, “But Maryse is going to be at the party…”

Mike snorted at his friend, “Who said it had anything to do with her?”

“So who do you have plans with?” Cody pressed, apparently wholly interested even as he tried to steal Mike’s mirror to see if the skin-tight shirt and jeans ensemble he had chosen with highly polished shoes really did look as hot in second-consideration as it had when he had first put it on. If he was even slightly unhappy he’d end up going home to change even if that would make him late; he was a firm believer in fashionably late after all.

Before Mike could comment though the door to his bedroom opened again and Punk and Randy stepped over the threshold, greeting the other two members of their group and slouching over available seating areas in their friend’s room without a care in the world.

They were definitely not dressed half as smartly as the others seemed to be, Punk using his trademark hoody and jeans look as Randy went for his Affliction t-shirt, leather-jacket and jeans look. They all pretended not to know for a fact that the jeans Randy were wearing were ones John had brought him, and that he had complimented the way they made his ass and legs look often enough. But the way they didn’t even seemed to care just added to their overall appeal. Besides, JoMo most likely wouldn’t say anything to them over it because they were typically known not to dress up unless made to.

“Who’s not going to the party?”

“Mike has other plans,” Cody arched a brow, “Plans that don’t involve his girlfriend.”

“Why are you even with her again?” Punk asked dryly, Mike ignoring him as he finally left his hair alone upon deeming it satisfactory.

“So who’re you seeing?” Randy rumbled.

“Just someone… So do you guys wanna get your asses outta my house before he—they turn up?”

Even though he worked swiftly to cover his slip he mentally groaned when he realised that they had all heard him.

“He?”

It wasn’t the gender that had caught them though, that much Mike knew; his bisexuality wasn’t a secret to many people aside from all of their parents since his and Maryse’s dalliances with others of either gender were kept close to the chest.

“It’s Riley isn’t it?”

Mike’s cheeks bloomed at Randy’s surprisingly level question and he looked defensively at his friend, “So what if it is? I’m keeping him out of yours and John’s way; you should be thanking me.”

Randy looked surprised and then smirked, “Because selfless helping of your friend is the only motive.”

“It is,” he maintained, knowing full-well from his earlier altercation with Alex that things probably weren’t going to progress to that kind of thing again anytime soon.

“Whatever you say,” Cody snickered.

“Just make sure you take Cody somewhere more private when you tell him any details this time—”

“You’re one to talk—”

When a car horn suddenly bibbed outside Mike swore, trying to push his friends downstairs but then out the backdoor, “You bitches are making me late!” he seethed, relieved that his parents were out otherwise he would’ve have to explain himself, “Go, get out of here!” he shut the back door on the startled trio and locked it, hastening towards the front of the house (and giving his reflection one last critical look) before he then opened the front door and stepped out, seeing Alex waiting for him in the car.

~::~

The party seemed to be in full swing by the time they arrived and it was only just past nine in the evening, bodies were all over the place dancing to the music, playing numerous games (drinking and otherwise, though most of those were undoubtedly alcohol fuelled) or indeed skipping all pretences and engaging in some pretty heavy petting and snogging sessions.

Ted was slightly terrified by the amount of aggressively sexual and drunk females that had approached him, one of which was Layla—although mercifully she seemed much less drunk than most of her friends. That didn’t stop her from trying to convince Ted to have more to drink than a coke… something that Cody clocked on to not long after he arrived and that he immediately started raising his hackles over.

Following his line of sight Randy murmured, “Be gentle… And don’t start a cat fight; you might be a flaming queer but it’s still not OK for you to hit girls.”

Cody sent him a look that looked both pissed and amused before sauntering over to Ted with that sway to his hips that spoke of a man on a mission.

Punk had already gone off it seemed, determined to make the most of some casual setting time with Evan before his folks realised that he had managed to skip out on them again… Chances were they’d turn up there to fetch him, or they’d call the cops; both would likely piss their son off and knowing Punk he’d do one before things could get that far, thus making his parents look like idiots. They had a strange one-upmanship relationship, him and his parents.

Were it not for the fact that the assholes were actually his closest friends and he cared about them he would likely have been pissed about the fact that they all (bar Cody, maybe) seemed to be making progress in their relationships when all of his had gone down the tubes. Not that anyone bar John had been an actual relationship of course.

Speaking of John… Where was he anyway?

Randy’s eyes narrowed as he picked up a bottle of beer from the numerous coolers around the room, snapping the top with an experienced motion and taking a deep drink of the cold liquid. For his plan to go into motion he couldn’t get too hammered… but one or two of liquid courage would be great for him. He was nervous as fuck that something would go wrong, and should it go wrong then he knew for sure that no matter what he thought he might be able to do to get back in John’s good books it wouldn’t matter.

“It’s about time you showed up.”

Randy turned, being confronted by a small and voluptuous brunette, “Mickie,” he said in relief, embracing the girl briefly although he wasn’t much concerned about John seeing him and her together for he had always known that they had been friends since way back, with nothing sexual ever happening between them. Sure, it’d taken a while for him to actually come to terms with it, but since then he’d never doubted it. At least Randy hoped he hadn’t otherwise that could throw an early spanner in his works too.

“Is it ready?”

“It was about to be. I couldn’t give it to him until you got here of course.”

Because then there was every chance that someone would really get to take advantage of John, and Mickie sincerely doubted that Randy would want that to happen. And she couldn’t stand by in good conscience and be part of it either if she didn’t expect that Randy would be there to play hero because she knew for a fact that most of the girls in her school would quite happily sink their claws into John… Even if that meant getting him drunk, seducing him and claiming a baby or something along those lines. Oh yeah, some of those girls were that desperate.

“Great,” Randy nodded, swigging some more of his own beer and drawing her closer to the side away from the crowd, “Where is it?”

Mickie looked uncomfortable and pulled a small pack out of her pocket. It contained half a pill, enough to affect a man of John’s size but not as badly as a full one might have. “It’s safe; they’re the kind my sister uses, he’ll start getting drowsy pretty quick though so make sure you’re with him pronto.”

“I get it I get it… Wait, where’s silly bitch x2?”

“Kelly?” Mickie smirked slightly before schooling her features, “She’s around. And I hear tell she’s already sniffing around John,” her expression turned dry, “Wants to offer him a shoulder to cry on.”

“Yeah,” Randy scowled, “I’ll just bet that’s what she wants to offer him.”

~:~

John was feeling no pain at all, at least on the surface. Somewhere along the line he had found himself a lounger by the pool and had decided it was the perfect place to stop and watch the world go by – Evan had vanished somewhere and he had thought he would be able to just hang around chatting with Ted. But after a while they had been joined by a couple of girls from the neighbouring school, Kelly and Layla, who didn't seem to notice that their presence wasn't wholly welcome or ignored it if they did realise. Kelly was the bolder of the two, clad in a sheer top and revealing denim hot pants, a hot pink bikini beneath in case she decided to swim. Not that she probably would, it might wreck her hair and it looked like she had spent some time on it. Kelly perched on the edge of John's lounger, giggling a little and sipping at her own beer, seeming solicitous when she asked after John's mental state but then changing the subject after an appropriate length of time, apparently not wanting to talk about Randy. 

Layla did the same on Ted's lounger, but slightly further away and behaving far more demurely, as would be expected by the son of a preacher. She had dressed with a goal in mind as well but her own demanded less flesh to be displayed. She had done her best with the limitation, her shirt tight and white skinny jeans moulded to her curves. Leaning forward revealed a modest amount of cleavage and a whiff of Givenchy, but Ted hadn't even glanced in that direction as yet. Both girls missed the irritated looks the boys gave one another when they were distracted. 

Ted answered Layla's chatter without enthusiasm, trying to be polite without encouraging her – unfortunately it didn't seem to be working. Layla went from one topic to another without pausing, searching for something that would rouse Ted's interest and Ted found it excruciating, since he could hardly tell her to shut up and go away. He'd just have to find some excuse to get out of there, which was a damned shame since he and John had been okay until the two girls had shown up – and he had the bad feeling that as soon as they camped somewhere else, the girls would 'unexpectedly' find them again. Well, maybe they would get lucky and the ladies would take the hint. 

“I need to find the bathroom,” Ted announced, interrupting Layla mid-sentence, and Kelly too, who had been in the process of telling John about her own prowess at... something, John hadn't really been paying attention. His mind had wandered far away from Kelly. “John, you've been here before, where is it?”

“I'll show you,” said John, trying to hide his gratitude.

“I could show you...” Layla's chirpy suggestion trailed away when Ted gave her a rather startled look that suggested she was being inappropriate. Actually he didn't think that she was, but shamefully he wasn't above using her own caution to get away from her. 

John made a move and that was the exact moment that Randy appeared at the door to the patio, leaning against the rail there. John could have screamed; they would have to go through that door to look like they really were going to the bathroom and although Randy had laid off that week, there was every chance that with a few beers inside him he would follow them inside and start harassing him again. Although a part of John desperately wanted Randy's attention, he was determined to stay strong – and he wasn't sure that he could, not with the way Randy seemed to have been losing interest that week and the way Kelly had reminded him exactly what he didn't want. He hesitated a moment but it seemed clear that Randy wasn't planning to go anywhere, his eyes scanning the crowd of people, probably looking for John. 

Kelly followed John's gaze and her eyes narrowed. “Layles, probably best that you show Teddy the house,” she said sweetly. “John, I'll get you and I another beer and we can stay where we are.”  
John would normally have disregarded the suggestion completely but he had been thrown by Randy's sudden arrival, even if he had been expecting it and didn't get in fast enough to stop Kelly taking over. Layla rose and when Ted got to his feet she caught his hand and led him inside, Ted giving John a rather helpless glance over his shoulder. Kelly waited for them to leave before she went over to the patio and grabbed four beers from the cooler, giving Randy a long glance before turning her nose up at him and heading back to John as soon as she was assured that he had noticed her. From the distance, John saw her inviting his attention and then his eyes narrowing as he realised where she was planning to sit. He missed the expression on Randy's face though when she sat beside him, handing him a beer, putting two more on the floor beside them and then arranging herself so she wasn't so much sitting on the lounger beside him as draped over him. 

For a second John considered telling her to back the fuck off, he wasn't interested and he thought he had been polite enough so far about it. But he'd already had three bottles of beer, Kelly had given him a fourth and his fifth was right beside her; right then he had Randy's attention, there was an attractive blonde giving him her full attention and actively trying to get everyone to notice and after the blows Randy had struck to his ego, John didn't feel like rejecting the attention. Even if he wasn't remotely interested in anything other than flirting with the girl. 

John shifted his arm so that Kelly could get more comfortable and he could rest his hand on the small of her back, knowing that people would already be talking and Randy would probably be turning purple – okay, it wasn't fair to Randy or Kelly but he wasn't in the mood to play fair at that moment. Kelly giggled and snuggled closer to him while John shifted his head a little, less interested in Kelly's happiness than what Randy was thinking at seeing it. 

Randy was looking at them alright and his expression was pissed but not quite as murderous as John had expected and John found himself a little disappointed. He took a swig of his beer, smiling vaguely as Kelly laughed at something she'd just said and wondered if maybe he should play a little further into this...

“Randy!”

John looked in the direction of the call, slightly surprised, wondering what woman would have business with his ex – and suddenly worried that it was one of the disposable fucks he'd racked up when they had first split. Some of the girls he knew were real drama queens. But this girl was someone he knew and it took him a few seconds to place her as Maryse – wasn't she Mike's girlfriend? Maybe he drank too much already and she expected Randy to take him home. 

Maryse stormed onto the patio in ultra-high heels and the smallest sundress that John had ever seen, not at all interested in keeping her voice down – as John remembered from the little contact he'd had with her, she quite liked being the centre of a scene and wasn't opposed to letting everyone hear all about her business. It made watching her and Mike argue interesting and no one ever had to struggle to hear what they were saying, as Randy used to say, it was hardly eavesdropping when one had to step back a few paces to avoid being deafened. 

“Where is Mike?” she demanded as she got within yelling distance of Randy, her French accent stronger when she was angry. “He didn't come and meet me! Did he run late and come with you instead? That is so thoughtless--”

“Chill,” said Randy in a bored tone that was quieter than Maryse and yet John didn't have to listen too hard to catch the words. On the two occasions he'd heard Maryse start on Randy over Mike, he usually caught her by the upper arms, speaking to her in low tones, warning her to keep it down. This time, he didn't much seem to care. “Mike didn't come. Said he had better things to do.”  
Maryse stared at him, slack-jawed for a moment, before she exploded. John couldn't make out any specific words over the swearing and yells but it was quite a sight and John was impressed, although he would have hated to be Mike at that point. And Mike wasn't even there? That was a first, Mike hadn't missed a party in living memory. In fact, he was frequently the drunkest, loudest person there. 

“He said he had someone better to do,” said Randy, with what John thought was unnecessary cruelty. Then again, hadn't he been wishing only moments ago that he was able to be mean to shake off some girl? Perhaps Randy had the right idea – and in any case, as long as Randy was taking out his mood on Maryse, he wasn't storming up to John and threatening Kelly. John might not care for Kelly but he had been embarrassed enough by Randy without a public shouting match to end it all. 

~:~

“Melinaaaaa...”

Melina raised her eyebrows at Cody. “I'm trying to have fun here Cody, you expect me to quit just to help you out? What's in it for me?”

“My undying gratitude?”

“Like that's worth anything.” Melina sighed. “I must be insane.”

“You'll do it?” Cody beamed. “Have I ever told you that I love you?”

“Only that time I wore mirrored shades.” 

Cody might have had something to say about that but he saw movement from the patio doors and suddenly forgot any cutting response he could have had – Ted and Layla were coming inside, as he'd known they'd have to sooner or later... and was that hussy holding his hand? She needed to be glad that she was a girl, otherwise Cody would have been forced to hurt her. And although his friends called him a diva and joked that he'd never get into a fight in case he broke a nail, Cody was actually on the wrestling team and tougher than he sometimes made out he was. 

Melina stepped forward as Cody melted into the background (something he wasn't used to doing), smiling rather giddily as she saw Layla, although the two were not exactly what one would call friends. Frenemies Cody supposed the word was, caught in a cycle of pretending to like one another when really they disliked or were jealous of the other and plotting to undermine them – really, being a girl seemed like a lot of hard work. 

“Layles!” she yelled, her voice slightly slurred even though only moments before there had been no sign of drunkenness. She went as if to throw her arms open for a hug, ignoring the annoyance on Layla's face, but forgot the wine cooler in her hand. Blackcurrant flavoured vodka sloshed from the neck of the bottle, splattering over the leg and crotch of Layla's white jeans and leaving several very obvious stains. 

“Oopsie!” said Melina with exaggerated remorse. “Your time of the month there Layles?” She giggled, covering her mouth and taking in Layla's genuinely furious expression. “Look, I'm sorry, I should have been more careful. I keep a ton of clothes over here for when I'm staying with JoMo, I'll loan you something, kay?” She eyed Layla's waist critically. “I've got some workout gear, I'm pretty sure that's got an elasticated waistband--”

“Bitch!” Layla swung her arm back as if she were about to let a slap fly, but Ted caught her wrist before she could do anything. 

“Why are you being like that?” he asked, seeming genuinely puzzled. “It's just an accident, she's trying to help you out. Go and change into something clean.”

Layla looked at him and then back at Melina, somehow managing to smile through gritted teeth and offer her thanks. Watching the scene, along with several other people, Cody was trying to bite his lip to hide the smirk on his face. He had to hand it to Melina, she was planning to be an actress as well as a model and she'd certainly pulled off this bit of improv with aplomb. And left Ted all alone at the party, a can of coke in hand and looking a bit lost. 

As Ted turned around to head back outside, Cody left the crowd he had mingled with and walked up behind the blonde. “Have you lost everyone?”

Ted turned and found that Cody was in his personal space, just a little too close for comfort, not quite close enough to be indecent. Immediately Ted's eyes went to Cody's lips and then straight to the floor. “Uh, no, have you?”

Cody chuckled. “You could say that. Randy finally got the message that John wants some space, but to him that still means standing at restraining-order distance and pretending not to stare. Punk's trying to impress someone and Mike didn't want to come.” He sighed dramatically. “That leaves me all alone. I should be standing in the kitchen next to the dip, hoping that someone'll talk to me.”

Ted smiled, eyes raising for just a second before he returned his gaze to somewhere off Cody. “I doubt very much you'll need to stand around hoping. You know everyone.”

“So do you, but you look a little lost.” Cody smirked a little. “Saw Layla dragging you around before. You didn't look too thrilled. Was she spiriting you off to some spare room?”

Ted looked up again, this time with an expression of horror, actually managing to hold Cody's eyes. “No! Yikes, no, no way. I was trying to get away but she uh, she was hard to shake.” 

“Hmmm, I don't know if I'd want to be shaken either if it were you I was following around,” said Cody, trying to sound both seductive and mild. It wasn't easy at all. Putting Ted's mind on the path he wanted it might have been easier if he wasn't well aware that if Ted worked out what he was doing, he might run off looking for John and suggesting they went home. “Tell you what, Melina's taken her off for a while and so we've got a few minutes to find somewhere to hide where she won't find us.”

“It's a house and a garden and a pool,” Ted reminded him. “There's nowhere she won't look.”

Cody grinned widely. “Wanna bet?”

Ted looked intrigued but Cody didn't give him the time to second guess, grabbing a few cans of coke from a cooler as they passed onto the patio, beckoning at Ted to follow him. And Ted did so with barely any hesitation because although he hadn't known what the hell to do when Cody had come onto him that day at school, the timing and the shock had more to do with that than Cody himself. And ever since then, Ted had been wondering what he would have done had they not been interrupted. 

For a moment it seemed as if Cody wasn't sure of where he was headed, except for past the pool houses to the edge of the property, then he turned his head to ensure Ted was still with him and winked. “This way,” he said, striding off. Ted glanced over his own shoulder to see who might be watching them, saw plenty of people but none paying any attention and continued to follow, not that he was sure it was a good idea to trail too far from the party – what if something happened to John or Evan? But that was ridiculous, they were surrounded by people and old enough to look after themselves. 

Cody stopped at the base of one of the trees that lined the boundary of the property and Ted looked around, wondering what they were doing there. Then Cody pointed up and Ted craned his neck, laughing a little. “A tree house? Are you for real?”

“Why not? She'll never come looking here and even if she does, she won't be able to climb in those shoes and pants.” Cody grinned, finding the boards nailed across the tree that might once have helped a much younger JoMo climb to the tree house and starting up, struggling a little thanks to the cokes he had brought along. For a moment he wasn't sure that Ted would go for it but as he got to the top, he heard the blonde following him up and smirked in the darkness, putting the cokes in the corner. 

Ted poked his head through the opening in the floor and looked around. “How did you know this was here?”

“Mike and JoMo were best friends when they were little kids. He's mentioned it before.”

“Right.” Ted pulled himself all the way in but still seemed a little doubtful. Cody didn't blame him. Now they were there, it seemed quite a lot smaller and less sturdy than Mike had described it being and while it might have comfortably held four eight year old boys, there was less chance of two teenagers, both tall and muscular. 

“I've never been up here before, I thought it was bigger,” said Cody apologetically. 

“There's nothing wrong with it.” Ted glanced out of the window, really just rough holes cut into the walls. “You can see half the neighbourhood from here.”

“And his parents wonder why JoMo likes heights and danger so much.” Cody laughed, stretching himself out a little and offering Ted one of the cokes, trying to pretend that his heart wasn't beating as hard as it was. This was it, the chance he had been hoping for, alone with Ted at long last – and suddenly he couldn't think of a single smooth line, anything to say that might make him sound interesting or sexy or smart. It was the worst possible time to have a brain-freeze and yet all that he could think of was that in the enclosed space he could smell Ted's cologne and that commenting on it would probably mark him out as weird.

~::~

“You will tell me where he is!” Maryse finally shouted.

She was a highly strung girl as it was, but having Randy starting to laugh in her face made it look as though she was about to suffer some sort of episode. Maryse’s clawed (excuse him, manicured) hand came up to undoubtedly smack Randy a good one across the face, but Randy saw it coming and had much more honed reflexes than she did. He easily backed aside a step and caught her wrist, lazily letting her use her own momentum just carry her into the railings awkwardly, teetering on her heels.

“I think you should calm down now before you make an even bigger fool of yourself,” Randy snapped, “I dunno where he’s gone and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you.” Aside from his parents’ expectations and an easy lay Randy had never understood why Mike wanted to be with Maryse in the first place. And he wasn’t about to subject her onto his friend when he knew who he was with at least… and he’d never seen Mike putting in as much effort with Maryse as he had getting ready for Riley. Much to Randy’s consternation of course but whatever; as long as he didn’t have to start being nice to the kid it was cool.

Maryse was vibrating with tension so hard that John could even see it from where he sat. However, if he had thought she was going to make another go for Randy she tossed her perfectly curled hair backwards from her face, spun on her heel and stormed away. She was either going to attempt to get Mike on his phone or she’d just spend the night with another boy (or girl if she was in that kind of mood) and have at Mike tomorrow instead.

John wondered if he should text Mike and warn him in advance; he did still have his number after all.

“Disgraceful,” Kelly sniffed from beside him.

“What?” John asked, turning his head to look at her.

“The way Randy treated her; he should have just told Maryse where Mike is! He doesn’t deserve her,” she sniffed.

John’s brows almost vanished into his hairline; he didn’t see it being that way for one thing, and for another he hadn’t exactly realised that Kelly and Maryse were friends. As far as he knew they competed with one another to be top bitch-dog on campus… maybe that was that frenemies thing that Cody was always talking about. He’d never seen the point of such arrangements; you either liked someone or you didn’t, and if you didn’t like someone then you just got on with your life and left them to theirs.

“If I was Mike I wouldn’t want Randy sending her after me like that either.”

For a moment it seemed as though Kelly didn’t know how to respond to that, but when she shot him another sweet smile John mentally groaned.

Fluttering her lashes Kelly asked sweetly, “What if it was me looking for you John?”

“Uh—“John floundered, wondering what he should say to her. Before things could get too awkward though they were interrupted by Mickie James, a girl John vaguely knew as a friend of Randy’s whom he also chatted with on occasion; he liked her because although she was a girly girl she liked football and roughing in casual settings like the boys did.

“Hey John-John!” she beamed, planting a wet kiss on his cheek the way she always did to her guy friends to make them squirm.

Ignoring the confused look she sent Kelly, and the black look Kelly sent her, John said, “Hey Mickie, enjoying the party?” she was certainly acting like she’d had enough to drink to enjoy herself.

Mickie giggled, moving backwards in her high-heeled cowboy boots, “Oh sugarlumps!” she sighed as she noticed that she’d knocked over the bottle of beer that was to be John’s next one, “I’m sorry,” the jean-wearing, tousle-topped woman looked so upset John immediately felt compelled to reassure her.

“No use crying over a spilled beer Mickie, it’s cool; it was an accident after all.”

“But that was yours John—“Kelly suddenly decided to input and John rolled his eyes.

“It’s fine Kelly.”

“No, no, I messed up, here—“she extended the untouched beer that she had been holding, “I can get another, you take this one OK? It’ll make me feel better,” she pouted and John smiled wanly as he took the beer; Randy might have been a bit crazy on occasion but he’d never put him through anything like girls seemed to do when he wasn’t even going out with them.

“OK,” he drained the last of the one he’d had in hand and accepted the next one, “Thanks Mickie.”

“No problem. Oh, look! There’s Nickie and Brie!” she waved to two tanned, dark haired twins sitting on the other side of the pool, “Gotta dash, have fun now!” waving to them she toddled off towards the twins, John wondering whether he should maybe get up and walk her around the pool since she seemed a bit unsteady. Little did he know that Mickie was really just making use of the drama skills that she had been honing in school for the last three years.

“Honestly, some people!” Kelly clucked, eying John’s beer with distaste, “I can have that one if you want.”

“Kelly, they’re the same type of beers!” John wasn’t wholly able to keep the exasperation from his voice now, “Watch—“he took a deep drink, knowing that he was being a little lairy because of that which he’d already consumed but he was past caring, “There’s nothing wrong with it, see?”

If Kelly wanted to say something else she didn’t bother, instead choosing to snuggle back into him.

For a few moments everything kind of fell back as it had been, but then John started to notice that he was feeling much woozier than he normally would after four and a bit beers. Absently he wondered whether it was the rather cloying perfume that Kelly was wearing that made him feel so sickly. Starting to sit up he barely noticed that he almost knocked Kelly off of the chair with him as he struggled to keep from just pitching head-first across the floor and most likely into the pool.

“John!”

“Sorry--- Not feeling so good—“maybe a little more beer would help?

Draining the last of the beer John then staggered to his feet; a bad choice of judgement that had been, maybe he’d be better off getting some water from inside? With that thought in mind John started towards the doors back into the house, making sure to avoid the edge of the pool at all costs. He felt as though he was crawling through molasses or something equally sticky; he seemed to be going nowhere fast when in his mind he knew where he wanted to be.

“John!” this time Kelly sounded somewhat concerned, running (as much as she could in her heels) and catching his arm, “Here,” she started directing him inside, “Let’s get you to one of the bedrooms OK? You can lie down and maybe you’ll feel better…” and who knew? Maybe when he woke up feeling better and saw her there they could maybe engage in some of the activities she had planned for the evening before the beer had apparently knocked John for six.

Who knew such a big guy could be a lightweight?

“I’m--- fine---“John tried, aware his words were slurring slightly but it didn’t sound quite like alcohol slurs.

He stumbled and some unknown face from the crowd shouted out asking who had roofied him, which was greeted by laughter from those that could hear, but at the same time was dismissed without much concern as they returned to their partying and suchlike.

“I’ll take him from here.”

Kelly looked up at the voice and scowled, clutching tighter at John’s arm as the man leant tiredly into the wall, seeming to not even notice that the newcomer was there.

“I think you’ve done enough!” she snapped and Randy looked unmoved.

Without speaking he merely reached for John’s free arm, tugged, and Kelly’s grip slipped, sending the pliant and dazed John into Randy’s waiting arms.

Through the haze that was settling over him John vaguely recognised a subtle and spicy cologne that his subconscious mind immediately tried to get closer to, knowing whom the wearer of that scent was. “Randy?” he mumbled, his eyes feeling heavy, his limbs starting to go like lead. Another strong arm wrapped around him, Randy’s deep timbre seeming to come from far away as he assured him that John was going to be OK, he’d got him.

~::~

“That is not real food!”

Alex laughed as Mike sent the salad that accompanied his steak and fries a slightly dry look.

“You saying you don’t eat salad?”

“Please; I’m genetically this amazing,” Mike was only chatting though because he really didn’t mind salads that much, though given the choice he’d usually pick something over it unless it was merely an added accompaniment to the meal, like it had been that evening for his burger and chips.

Thus far the evening had been really fun; he and Alex had broken the ice pretty quickly and had been chatting like they had known one another for years the moment that had happened.

“Pass the pepper, Mike?”

“Sure,” he slid the container across the table of their little booth, grinning slightly to himself as he noticed Alex’s tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration the way that he normally did.

Liberally placing ketchup and relish on his burger Mike picked it up with his hands and took a large bite, humming in pleasure as he savoured the well-cooked meat and fresh bread-bun. When his eyes opened from his momentary food euphoria he noticed that Alex was staring at him and his cheeks bloomed slightly even though he looked somewhat defensive at the same time, “What?”

“Nothing,” Alex smiled, cutting a generous piece from his own steak and dunking it in sauce, “It’s nice to see a man who appreciates his food,” he had never understood people who just didn’t eat, or who ate ridiculously small portions and healthy food; there was no reason (unless you were allergic or whatever) that you couldn’t have whatever you wanted to eat as long as you had it in moderation.

“Shut up,” Mike chuckled, blushing slightly once more although tilting his head back haughtily as he did.

Alex was no longer fooled by the exterior though; he’d seen that hurt expression Mike had had towards him earlier in the week and he knew that Mike felt the same way they all did, even if he sometimes acted as though he wasn’t concerned by anything that had nothing to do with him. Alex wondered what it was that Mike was trying to hide from when he acted like that, but he had the feeling Mike would only scoff at him and not answer should he ask.

“You not sad you skipped out on the party to be with me?”

“Hell no,” Mike responded, “Besides, there’ll be other parties I get invited to.”

“You’re sure confident about that.”

Mike winked, “And why not babe?”

“Don’t babe me,” this time Alex was the one to blush.

Inside of his pocket Mike could feel his phone going off again, knowing full-well who was ringing him and that was why he was keeping his attention focused solely on his companion. He wasn’t having Maryse interrupt his moment with Alex because she was having a bitch-fit over whatever. Besides, it wasn’t as though she was going to go home alone just because he wasn’t there.

“Something wrong Mike?”

“What?”

“You… You got kinda a sour look on your face then. I wondered whether you’d eaten something you didn’t like…”

Was it possible for one boy to be so damned adorable? It was almost painful.

“Nah, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about the maths homework we got set.”

“Urgh, don’t even remind me!” Alex whined.

School wasn’t quite the topic that Mike had been hoping to get the other engaged in but it was a start, and as they ate their meals they talked about lessons they liked and didn’t like, the things they enjoyed in terms of sports and what they wanted to be when they grew up.

“A professional wrestler? Seriously?”

Mike eyed Alex a little, wondering whether he really should have made up something else, “Why? What’s so funny about me wanting to be a wrestler? I could take you down if you pushed me!”

“I got no intention of pushing you,” Alex held up his hands in a gesture of surrender and shook his head, “There’s nothing wrong with it, I guess…”

“You guess?”

“I guess I just thought you might go in for something on TV instead.”

Mike looked surprised, “Why would you think that?”

“Well,” Alex stabbed an errant chip with his fork and popped it into his mouth, using the excuse of eating to take pause and formulate his thoughts, hoping he hadn’t made too much of an ass of himself with what he’d said, “I mean, you’re good at talking in front of people and you’re charismatic… Being on TV as a presenter or something would probably be good for you.”

“Yeah?” Mike looked amused, “Maybe I’ll look into it if the wrestling thing doesn’t work out.”

“You do know they wear like speedos in wrestling, right?”

“All the more reason people’ll tune in to watch me,” Mike winked.

“Maybe I’ll go into wrestling too,” Alex joked.

He’d been on the team some in school, his last school anyway, the current was full and hence why he’d gone into football, but he’d never considered it as a serious career.

Mike grinned lasciviously, “Maybe you can come and work for me.”

Alex smirked as he sipped some of the coke he had brought through a straw, “You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

“Hey, I’d need somebody to carry my bags,” he joked.

The pair laughed and finished eating, ending up surprising themselves and one another when they actually brought a dessert and split it like all those couples did in the movies.

It would have been perfect, Alex thought as he paid their bill despite Mike’s insistence they go halves, heading back towards his car afterwards, if Mike didn’t already belong to someone else. Someone who he seemed strangely reluctant to really break it off with despite his offer to the contrary before.

~::~

Randy chose to get John away from the house before he called a cab from his mobile, almost holding the other up and saying soothing things on autopilot. He'd done it once or twice before, although John tended to be quite able to hold his drink and tended to go easy when he did drink. It was Randy who had been known to drink too much too quickly and cut the night short by having to stumble home before he made a complete dick of himself and John had usually been the one at his side to help him out. At the end of the street Randy called a cab, a slight feeling of guilt playing on his mind. Had he gone too far...? No, he couldn't let himself think that way. He had only saved John from being taken advantage of by Kelly after all, and he had to find a way to prove that he was the best person to be with John. And that he could resist the temptation of drunken teenagers throwing themselves at him, couldn't forget that part. It had been one of John's conditions. 

Then again, so was time travel and Randy wasn't at all sure how he was supposed to clean that particular slate. John wanted some way of not having to be embarrassed about being cheated on and Randy had no idea how he was supposed to achieve that. 

He sat on a low wall as he waited for the cab, sitting John down beside him and keeping a wary eye on JoMo's house. There was a good chance that Kelly would either come out herself or go and find one of John's circle of friends. He was pretty sure that Punk was keeping Evan company but unless Cody had found some way of hiding Ted away, she was going to be in his ear pretty quickly. And Ted would insist on taking John home and staying with him, while Punk would probably be able to talk Evan into making a quick check and then letting Randy take over. He didn't think that Kelly was likely to have any of their numbers and the music was loud enough that probably a phone wouldn't be heard, but it was still a risk he'd rather have not had to deal with. 

There was no choice though and he was relieved when the cab turned the corner, the almost-elderly driver pulling up when Randy indicated to him and looking suspiciously out of the window. 

“Orton?”

“Yeah.” Randy nudged John, who mumbled something in his semi-conscious state. 

“If that kid pukes in my cab, you can pay for the cleaning and I'll kick you both out in the street--”

“He won't puke,” said Randy irritably. “And even if he did, I'd cover it. You wanna keep my card 'til we get back and then you can add the damned charge to the fare?”

The driver didn't look happy about it but he accepted the card Randy handed through the window, offering no help as Randy guided John to the cab and all but poured him into the seat. Randy paused for a moment when asked where he was going and then gave his own address. The hell with it. He would send a quick text to John's parents from his phone saying that he was staying with friends and then take John to his own house. His own parents wouldn't mind at all, John had stayed over on occasion and if he turned up leaning on Randy and apparently the worse for drink, probably they'd just laugh and lecture him in the morning....

Shit, the morning. They would assume that John and Randy where still an item. Oh fuck it, he'd deal with that obstacle when he came to it. 

John slumped against him, not saying very much and Randy didn't mind too much at that moment, he didn't really want to talk before the cab driver and in any case, anything John said wasn't going to be remembered in the morning. When they got to his house, Randy paid the driver and coaxed John from the cab, slinging John's arm over his shoulders. He was relieved to find that his parents had already gone to bed and his siblings also seemed to have retired to their rooms. He didn't bother to go through into the living room, instead taking John straight to his room and dumping him on the bed. He was strong but John weighed a lot and half-carrying him for such a long time had taken its toll; Randy was relieved when he had John on his bed and not in his arms. 

For the moment at least. 

Randy kept a mini-cooler in his room and filled it with cherry coke; now he took two cans out and put one on the side for himself, popping the tab on the second and sitting on the bed beside John. “Take a drink Johnny, then you can get some sleep.”

“Buh m'tired--”

“And you'll wake up easier if you're hydrated.” Randy put his arm under John's neck, forcing him to raise his head and take a long drink. John seemed grateful for the refreshment but as soon as Randy let him, he dropped his head back on the pillow again, closing his eyes. Randy regarded him for a moment, sighing to himself. There was room enough in the bed for the both of them, there always had been and Randy wanted little more than to curl up alongside John, one arm over his body while they both went to sleep. And then in the morning John would roll over and smile at him, kiss him good morning…

But he was supposed to be winning John back for good and that meant sticking to the plan rather than satisfying what he wanted right then and there. He went into his wardrobe and found a spare blanket, throwing it on the floor with some ill-humour. He had slept in worse places but usually he had to have had a lot more to drink before he crashed on his own floor. 

“Randy?”

Randy crossed to the bed and sat on the edge. “Yeah?”

“Why're you sleeping down there?”

“We're broke up,” said Randy as lightly as he was able. “Remember?”

“Oh yeah.” John looked confused for a moment. “So why'd you bring me home?”

“Because I'm not about to leave you to Kelly's clutches. You know how I feel and I still gotta look after you.”

“Right.” John sighed deeply, his eyes closing a moment. “I wish we didn't break up.”

“You and me both.” Randy hesitated a moment and then leaned in, kissing John lightly, determined not to let it get hot and heavy because John wouldn't be very forgiving if he woke up to realise Randy had known he was in no state to make decisions and taken advantage. John returned the kiss with more fervour, resting his arm over Randy's shoulders, but he was in no state to press his intentions and after a long moment, time enough for Randy to have a serious argument with himself about not letting himself waver no matter how much he wanted to, the taller boy pulled away. 

“Get some sleep John,” he said and took to the floor, reaching up for the remote for the TV and putting it on low. After a few minutes he heard John breathing evenly and heavily, not quite snoring, and smiled to himself. If John wanted some heroic acts on his part to make up for everything, then he was pretty sure that rescuing him from Kelly and not taking advantage was pretty goddamn heroic. 

~:~ 

Cody had somehow found common ground with Ted. It was strange, after lusting after him for years he had often though what it would be like to laugh and joke with the other, or discuss problems and worries, but he had never once considered how he might begin a conversation with the other. He had assumed it would come naturally but for once in his life he had found himself tongue-tied. But the party had given them at least a little fodder for conversation and Cody thought he'd be okay, as long as he kept the subject away from Layla. 

“You really didn't come to the last party that JoMo had?” he asked again, although he knew very well that Ted had not. He'd gone to that party with such high hopes too and ended up in a lip-lock with some 'confused' boy who went to the local public school, trying to get over his disappointment that Ted hadn't gone along, even though both John and Evan had been there. He hadn't taken much notice of Evan and all he knew of John was that he was still with Randy and the two of them had been joined at the hip all night long. 

“Nah.” Ted chuckled to himself. “I'm uh, well I like a good party but I'm not so sure about some of the ones that people at school throw. A good time? I'm all for it. But sometimes, it seems like people go to these things just so that they can get loaded and the next day no one's talking about what a good time they had, it's all gossip about what someone else did and how they embarrassed themselves.”

“Uh-huh.” Cody had embarrassed himself at one of these parties in the past and he just hoped that Ted hadn't heard about that one. “So why did you come to this one?”

“I began to wonder if I was missing out.” Ted gave a little shrug. “And it's like I said, I'm not against having fun, so I just don't drink and I can lend some moral support to John--” He covered his mouth with his hand. “Aw hell, John. Last I saw, he was letting Kelly slobber all over him.”

“Slobber?” Cody laughed, although he was suddenly worried about Ted taking off. “She'll just love that description, I must remember to make sure it gets out. He'll be just fine, he's a big boy and he's not exactly been making too much of a dent in the beer from what I saw. Don't worry. I'm sure if he gets too down, he'll end up getting himself home.”

“I suppose so,” said Ted, although he didn't sound too reluctant when he said it. Cody was a little surprised, he would have thought that Ted would have taken off as soon as he remembered his friends. Either Ted was too comfortable to move, which didn't seem too likely when they were in the tiny tree house, or else he wasn't in a hurry to leave. Cody was hoping for the latter. 

Cody had never been very good at small talk when there was something else on his mind, he tended to open his mouth and whatever he was thinking would just come out. And given that he was with Ted, the boy he'd come on to only days ago who seemed to be pretending it had never happened, it wasn't easy to recall anything else that might have happened that night, not when his mind was demanding to know what it was Ted was thinking. Still, he tried. 

“So, uh... you sure as hell didn't push me away in the classroom the other morning.”

Ted froze in surprise and Cody cursed silently. That wasn't what he had been intending to say at all, but Cody had always felt more comfortable flirting. When he wanted someone's attention, then he just had to be teasing and he nearly always had it. The exception of course had been Ted and Cody hadn't planned to flirt, but it was just so easy to fall into the habit. And now, there was a good chance that he had blown it. 

“No,” said Ted surprisingly after a moments silence. “I didn't.” He took a swig of his coke to cover the silence that followed. 

Cody raised an eyebrow at the admission and grinned. “Does that mean that you're interested?”

Ted pressed his lips together a moment and then tried to look neutral, clearly not something he was very practised at. Cody and Ted were alike in one way at least, they both showed exactly how they felt. It just manifested in different ways for each of them. “Cody,” Ted managed in the end. “I didn't take it personally. You flirt with everyone.”

Cody's eyes widened. “I do not!”

“You do!” Ted looked at the ceiling a moment as he considered. “You flirt madly with the girls, even though you're clearly not interested in a one of them, they're always talking about how they'll be the one to 'turn' you--”

“Really?”

“And you flirt with the teachers when you're trying to get out of trouble--”

“Hey, I have never flirted with Mrs Guerrero.”

Ted looked back at him steadily. 

“Okay, maybe I once flirted with Mrs Guerrero. She let me have more time to do the work, it was okay!”

“The point is, you flirt with everyone who crosses your path, you don't even realise it sometimes. Hell, you've even flirted with John and that's just begging for a smack from your best friend. You do it to get out of trouble, you do it when you're feeling mischievous, you do it when you're bored. So I didn't take it personally, no apology needed.”

Cody couldn't believe what he was hearing. “Apology? I wasn't going to apologise!”

“I did think it would have been a first.”

Cody ran a hand through his perfectly gelled hair, shaking his head in disbelief. “You think I was bored? Wow, you don't think much of yourself, do you Teddy?”

“What--”

“Hush. My turn.” Cody knew he should probably just shut up, quit while he was ahead, but the words just kept falling from his lips. “You have no idea, you really don't. Okay, so I'm friendly. That's no crime. But the one person whose attention I've been trying to get ignores me! I've tried everything Ted, everything. When I think I'm gonna see you, I spend ages making sure I look perfect – you never look twice! I've tried to be charming – you just give me a blank look, like I'm talking in some foreign language! I tried being nice – you just look puzzled. And then I decided to do something bold and make myself clear and you spend the rest of the week avoiding me!”

“I've not been avoiding--”

“And spending the party with Layla,” continued Cody, who was on a roll now and powerless to stop himself. “I've been trying to get you to see me for years and it's just impossible. I would have thought you'd have seen it by now and that if you weren't interested you'd have just come out and told me you were straight, but I feel like I'm being strung along and ignored at the same time. It's not good for my ego. So I'm laying it out here and now. If you don't like guys, then I'll just head off with my tail between my legs and mourn awhile. And wish I hadn't been such a damned fool. And if you do, then there's no other guy who could be as good for you as I would.”

Ted stared, looking completely dumbfounded and Cody looked down, taking a sip of his drink and wishing, not for the first time, that his mouth had some kind of off switch that he could employ when he was about to speak his mind. Years of work, years, and he might have blown it all in a few moments. Because he could talk big but he already knew that he wouldn't mourn awhile, he'd be fucking devastated forever if Ted announced he had no interest at all in men. And it would be even worse if he said he was interested in men, just not in Cody. If he secretly harboured some crush on another man, the way that Cody had on Ted for so long. 

“You've really been trying to get my attention for that long?”

“It didn't work, did it?” Cody shrugged, still not looking up. “You never noticed me.”

“Are you kidding?” Ted blurted the words out and Cody looked up sharply, noticing that Ted had stopped himself saying anything more. He seemed to be having the same internal battle that Cody had so recently lost. 

“Hey,” said Cody quietly. “I'm sober, you're sober and I just put everything on the line here. You could at least do the same.”

Ted looked conflicted, but Cody supposed that it was his natural honesty and openness that made him haltingly continue. 

“I noticed you,” Ted admitted quietly. “I don't remember when I started but I did. What you were wearing and when we'd have class together. I knew you were there and I spent every conversation we had alternately scared I was gonna say something stupid and elated that I'd have something new about you to think about.”

“Then why did you never respond--”

“Hush. My turn.” 

Cody smiled a little at his own words thrown back at him. 

“Two reasons, why I never let myself think it would go beyond me sneaking glances at you,” continued Ted, his eyes firmly fixed on his can of coke. “Because of me. Because I'm not John, I don't want to be some gay champion for school. I want to get an education and get on. I want to keep my head down. I already have plenty of notoriety with my dad being a minister and people always assume that I hang around with John because I'm trying to convert him or something. Or that I talk to them because I want to slip them a few tracts. I don't like idle gossip and I don't like being the subject of idle gossip and I never wanted to take a chance that you might reject me – or accept me for that matter. I don't have the confidence to either walk around having announced myself as gay or to have declared an interest in you and been knocked back.” He shrugged. “And there's my parents.”

“Wait, I thought your religion accepted that some people are gay and that's acceptable?”

“It does.” Ted smirked slightly. “And my parents have never been off with gay people. They've never been funny with John for example. But they're – careful with him, I suppose that's the best way to describe it. The way I understand it, they spent a lot of time thinking being gay wasn't okay and now they've accepted that it is, they go over the top trying to be accepting. Especially my dad. He's like – that parent that thinks they're cool because they use slang and knows all the words to the current number one. If he tried to be pally with me over this and try to be cool about it, I might actually curl up and die on the spot. And that's assuming they are okay. Just because our religion says it's okay, that doesn't mean that they'll be pleased it's in their house. They still use those casual slurs, y'know? Gay as a euphemism for weak, or cowardly, or feminine. If I were putting myself into that situation, then I'd have to have good reason to, or be at college and able to get away from it and into my own space.”

Cody considered all of this. “And what's the second reason?”

“Huh?”

“You said there were two reasons and that's only one.” He put the coke can aside and fiddled with the seam of his jeans. “It's me, isn't it? The other reason.”

“Yeah.” Ted frowned a second later, clearly not having meant to said that. “Not you as in, uh, you... the thing is Cody, it's like I said before. You flirt with anything that moves, you're not exactly serious about anyone. I've never once thought that you could be serious about anyone for long. And if I were to put myself in that situation, it would have to be for someone I thought was equally willing to put in the same effort that I was. It would mean a lot to me, a whole lot and to have put myself on the line for someone who was just acting out of self-interest and had no intention of seeing things through – that would be my worst nightmare because I would have put myself in that position and have nothing to show for it, have to face it on my own...” He took a deep breath. “And honestly Cody, with your constant flirting and your uh, history of never getting serious, I think that being with you, I'd be setting myself up for a fall.”

Cody sat for a moment, stunned. “Ouch,” he managed eventually, with a weak laugh. 

“I'm sorry.”

“No, it's fine,” Cody lied. He paused for a moment, trying to work out how to deal with the allegations – they were true after all. “You want to know the reason I was never serious with anyone?” When Ted nodded, he managed a small smile. “It's probably stupid. But I never met anyone I really wanted to be serious with. There were guys I didn't mind kissing, but none of them were people I wanted to go any further with. I was carrying a torch for uh, someone else. I always have done.”

Ted didn't reply, looking rather stunned and Cody took the opportunity to scoot a little closer, without getting too far into Ted's personal space. “Here's the thing Teddy. I can't have proven to be serious about anyone if there's no one I'd want to be with – and if anything, that makes me more serious about the person I really want to be with, or I'd think so. A lot of the stories, they're exaggerated and I let them be because I thought they made me sound – I dunno, more desirable or more interesting or something. If I'd known – well, too late for that now. Here's a thought. You know that I like you and you sorta like me too, right?”

Ted nodded, a blush starting on his cheeks that Cody found very attractive. 

“We don't have to make some big statement to everyone. How about you let me take you out? We spend some time together, see if you still like me when you've been around me a little. Not even proper dates if you don't want them to be, just two guys hanging out. You don't have to make some big statement to everyone, don't have to tell your parents it's more than just a movie or whatever. Keep it to ourselves – and that's a big ask from me, because I'd love to announce to the whole world that you're willing to be in public with me. And if nothing comes of it, then that's fine, wasn't meant to be. But if you do decide I'm worth the effort, then you'll know I'll be there with you. It doesn't have to be all or nothing Teddy, not if you don't want it to be. We can start off as friends...” Cody reached out and touched a finger against Ted's jaw, a smile on his lips. “With maybe one or two extras. But I won't push for anything Teddy, I promise. I've waited forever to get even this close. I can hold out even longer.”

Ted finally met Cody's eyes. “I guess we could try the friends thing...” He smiled a little. “Except that I should be the one to take you out.”

“Take it in turns?”

“That works for me.” Ted paused, considered, tried speaking again. “And uh, the extras bit?”

“Yeah?” Cody tried for nonchalance, but the way his heart was pounding he was pretty sure he sounded more shaky than anything else. 

“We're on our own now.” Ted's blush deepened. “And uh, I'd never forgive myself if I looked back in years to come, no matter how things turn out, and remembered that I just climbed out of here without sneaking a kiss. I uh, I've been thinking of it for too long.”

“Me too.” Now that the moment was here, Cody found that his usual suaveness had all but deserted him, but he managed to move closer to Ted, brushing his lips against the blondes. It wasn't the best position, as cramped and awkward as the treehouse was – but he wouldn't have had it any other way. And when he felt Ted press their lips together he responded in kind, almost delirious with happiness.

~::~

“So… I had fun tonight.”

Mike fought a smirk; for all Alex was a confident so-and-so half the time he was really very coy and sweet when you spent time with him, and it was no small measure to say he was pretty smug that he was the first person outside of his small group of friends who had managed to get his attention.

“So did I. Does that mean you’d wanna do it again?”

When Alex hesitated, especially for a few seconds too long to be counted as playful, Mike frowned a little.

“What is it?”

Alex bit his lip slightly and rubbed a hand over his forehead before exhaling, “I really don’t like the idea of dating someone who, as far as everyone else knows, is dating someone else—“he held up a hand before Mike could interrupt, “And I don’t care that everyone else seems to know you two aren’t faithful to each other. I’ve been a bit on the side before and it isn’t fun, I have no intention of doing it again… Especially because I really like you.”

Momentarily for once, Mike was stumped, and needed a moment to consider his response. It took him a bit longer than it otherwise would considering he was internally preening over the fact that Alex had said that he really liked him, and hadn’t denied especially that he wanted to be with him. Actually, he had pretty much said dating hadn’t he? OK, maybe it was a little more than Mike may end up wanting once his initial obsession had worn down but that didn’t matter; he wasn’t about to snub the offer.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his phone, quick and experienced fingers bringing up the number he wanted and holding the screen so Alex could see it, “I’ll text her right now and end it, like I said I would.”

Alex looked pained, “You can’t end it by text!” even if he didn’t really love her that was just cruel.

“Why not? Have you tried talking to her?” of course he wouldn’t have, but still, Mike was making a point here, “You can’t get a word in edgeways!”

“Mike…” Alex sighed, “I wouldn’t like it if you broke up with me through text.”

“Who said we’d break up?”

“Sure, pull the other one: it’s got bells on it.”

“I could leave her a voice message?” Mike suggested, sighing when Alex gave him a look, “What? It’s got to be in person?”

Urgh… She’d definitely complain to her father then, and that meant that Mike was likely going to get hounded down by his soon. Although with any luck the man might finally just let him be on the matter. Somehow though he didn’t see it happening that way, and he didn’t really want to try and explain the situation to Alex either; the other would probably consider him some sort of coward, and Mike’s parents somehow bad even though for the main Mike knew when it came to his folks he had nothing to complain about.

Before he could try and reason with Alex that this way would be safest (for both of them once Maryse’s gossip network found out about Alex and told her about him) there was a knock on the car window that made both boys jump.

When Mike saw his elder step-sister standing there with a sly smirk he felt his cheeks bloom and his eyes widen in panic; they, as siblings, alongside their other brother, were notorious for their games of one-upmanship. And, also, Mike didn’t like the way that she was looking at Alex.

Sister or not he’d kick her ass for trying to take Alex away from him too.

“We’re out late tonight aren’t we Mikey?”

“What’s it to you Toni?”

Her cheek twitched and Mike smirked, though the smirk slipped as she leant in against the open window and extended her hand to Alex with her sweetest smile, “Tonia Mizanin, pleasure to meet you…?”

Alex looked both amused and confused but shook her head politely and smiled back, “Alex Riley, ma’am.”

“Oh, so you’re the new boy in Mikey’s school,” she winked, “What an improvement from what we usually have around here.”

Mike coughed into his fist, “Fancy’s Cody!”

Tonia merely smacked him lightly on the back of the head before cocking her head interestedly at Alex, “You two weren’t at Morrison’s party tonight were you?” even she and her college friends had heard of it.

“Nah, I uh, didn’t fancy it much and Mike offered to show me around a bit.”

Tonia levelled Mike with a look, “Yeah, I’ll bet he did.”

“Don’t you have an elsewhere to be?” Mike grouched.

“Nope,” she popped the ‘p’ to annoy him further, “But since you’re obviously coming in I’ll wait for you.”

Mike wanted to bang his head against the dashboard; goddamn sisters!

“Go wait, y’know, further away.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so!”

“Why?”

“Are you sure you’re a college student?”

“Yeah,” she winked at Alex again, “Nice to meet you,” and then wandered up towards the front door.

Mike stuck his tongue out at her after her retreating back and then looked sheepishly at Alex, “Don’t mind her… she’s special,” he joked and Alex chuckled slightly.

“It’s cool. You can tell you two are close.”

“Close to killing each other maybe.”

“Oh shut up,” Alex laughed and then cleared his throat softly before leaning in and kissing Mike on the cheek, catching him off-guard in surprise but also making him wish he could push for a little more.

“I meant what I said Mike. I don’t share.”

Mike exited the car and Alex drove off a few minutes later, Mike watching him go.

Despite everything he was grinning like a fool as he headed inside with his sister, even though Tonia ripped into him for it mercilessly. At least he didn’t need to explain it; she knew what he and Maryse were really like with each other.

~::~

Cody found it difficult to keep himself from pushing too deeply when Ted kissed him like that, and since Ted was offering he figured that he couldn’t be faulted for just one in-depth kiss. Right? Reaching up he cupped the blonde’s cheek and angled his head; for what Ted lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm and Cody found that he rather liked knowing that whatever Ted was going to learn through their kissing he was learning for him, to use with him. Maybe that was his ego talking but so what?

Ted’s tongue stroking his own sent tingles down Cody’s spine, but the hands settling a little shyly but pointedly on his hips as best they could with their slightly cramped positioning made his heart sing. Even in his wildest fantasies he’d never expected that he’d really get anything like this out of Ted, or the promise that they could at least give things a shot together. It was like every dream he’d had since puberty coming true in one fell swoop.

Forcing himself to pull back Cody levelled Ted with a crooked grin.

Mercifully the blonde looked as flushed and swollen-lipped as he did otherwise he might have considered that something was really lacking in his technique for once.

“Was… Was that OK?”

“More than—”

“You’re not just saying that right?”

“I don’t say things I don’t mean.”

Cody arched a brow, “This coming from Mr Nice?”

Ted grinned sheepishly; he couldn’t deny how much he went out of his way to be nice to people any more than Cody could deny his flirtatious tendencies.

“So…” Cody grinned a little playfully though his heart was pounding, “Does this mean you fancy doing something together tomorrow?”

“I think that can be arranged,” Ted grinned slightly, “What did you have in mind?”

“We could go see a film…” that was a standard sort of first date situation right?

“Sure, that’d be good. I’m paying though.”

“Hey, I asked you-“Cody nudged him with a chuckle, giggling a little involuntarily when Ted seemed to just automatically poke a rather ticklish spot on his ribs.

“Well, let’s just say this is my condition. You can pay next time.”

“You’ll spoil me like that you know?”

“Maybe I want to spoil you,” Ted smiled and Cody just about melted.

Dammit but this boy was so damned cute!

“We might be safe now,” Cody said reluctantly, “If you wanted to join the party.” In truth he wasn’t even that bothered about re-joining the party now; he’d gotten even more than he’d been hoping for, and now he wanted to just go home and have a rather girly freak-out with excitement over the fact that he had finally, finally won a chance to win Ted’s heart after years of longing for it.

“I don’t think I’m really fussed…” Ted admitted, especially considering Layla was most likely in a doubly foul and determined mood than she had been before, “But the others might need lifts home.”

“Well, actually, you may be OK to leave if you wanted to. If John’s already gone home,” hopefully with Randy, for all of their sakes, “Then it’s just Evan that’ll need a lift right? And Punk doesn’t drink, so he’ll make sure he gets home safely… Just give him a text to let him know you’re heading home. So… Can I walk you home?”

“No—“Ted started, having to bite his lip to keep from laughing at Cody’s sweetly devastated face before he hastened to add, “But can I drive you home?”

The smile Cody gave him seemed to light up the whole tree-house, revealing the cute gap between Cody’s front teeth that Ted had long since noticed that the other seemed to go to extreme lengths to hide away for some reason.

“Yeah, you can.”

Cody quickly text Punk as Ted text Evan, the pair then carefully climbing down from the tree-house and heading around to the front of the house to get to where the cars were parked. Luckily they didn’t run into Layla although Cody had heard her voice somehow carrying over the other voices and the music as they had been leaving through the front door.

“Does this mean you’re gonna pick me up tomorrow?”

“It should do,” unless his parents somehow threw a spanner in his works, “How does six sound?”

Cody wanted to ask why so early, but he recalled Ted’s father’s position and knew how protective the pair where over all of their sons; even the one who had already left the parental home.

“Six sounds great. Wear something skimpy,” Cody cracked up laughing at Ted’s horrified look, “I kid, I kid!”

“Good,” Ted blushed and then chuckled ruefully, “I don’t think I have anything skimpy anyway.”

“Those bright blue jeans and that black shirt, wear that.”

Cody pretended to suddenly find the familiar view out of the window fascinating as Ted levelled him with a surprised look over the fact that Cody had specifically noted an outfit for him.

~::~

“Well… Good job I haven’t drunk all that much.”

“Why?” Punk asked curiously, casually swirling the ice-cold Pepsi he had found to drink that had not been tainted with any kind of alcohol around in his cup.

“Because finding my way home could have turned out to be a bit of a task thanks to the fact that Ted’s gone home and I have the sneaking suspicion John’s not here either.” He thought he had seen him leaving with Randy before, but before he could think to even go over and approach the pair and see what was going on they had already vanished. It had made him wonder whether there had been something stronger in his beer than the beer he’d been expecting.

“You don’t think I’d leave you to walk home alone do you?” Punk asked, mildly affronted. Even if Evan was sober he wasn’t about to just let the other walk alone. It had nothing to go with whether Evan could defend himself either; it was just what you were supposed to do, especially with someone you were interested in and cared about.

“I dunno… Maybe you would’ve been having too much fun here to care much about me getting home,” Evan chuckled, draining the last of his second beer and figuring he’d go onto the pop now. Despite his small stature it actually took a lot for him to get drunk, but he felt a little awkward drinking before Punk even though the other hadn’t even so much as given the beers in his hands a fleeting look before.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

A shiver ran down Evan’s spine as Punk’s warm breath washed over his ear. The music may have been loud but it was a vague consideration that even so Punk was standing just a little closer than necessary. Not that he minded at all.

“Sure.”

Punk had felt the shiver from the smaller man and couldn’t help but grin.

“I only came here because I thought I might see you.”

“You—you might give me the wrong impression saying things like that.”

“Well, let’s see? What sort of impression do you get?” Punk wasn’t about to let Evan try and wriggle out of the situation because of his slightly lacking self-esteem. And all of those people who had ever said anything about him because he was small, or wore glasses, Punk would like to knee them in the temple good and proper and put them to sleep for a while.

“You… that’s the kind of thing you’d say to someone you like.”

“I do like you,” OK, maybe Punk was teasing him a little but when Evan got that look on his face it was hard not to; he was just so cute.

“You know what I mean,” Evan pouted, and then subconsciously licked his lips when Punk’s eyes immediately dropped down to the appendages.

“You mean someone you fancy, right?”

“Y-Yeah—“suddenly Punk seemed to have moved closer, Evan’s back meeting the corner of the little alcove they had been standing in just off from the main room of the party for a little room and breathing space.

“Maybe I do fancy you… I thought I’d pretty much told you that already.”

Granted the first kiss hadn’t been quite as he’d imagined it but it’d been brilliant nonetheless. Still, there was always room for improvement and practice wasn’t there? And his mouth had pretty much healed up by that point, no lisping, no pain…

He could finally kiss Evan the way he’d been wanting to that first night, and the subsequent study sessions when he had managed to coax the other into easing off a little bit on the actual work aspect.

“You gonna kiss me Punk?”

Given Evan’s usual careful tendencies Punk was surprised he was so forthcoming, but then he smirked a little.

“M’thinkin’ about it.”

“Well,” Evan, probably bolstered by his own desire and the two beers (and other shot he’d had with John before, now he thought about it) reached up and cupped the back of Punk’s neck, “Maybe you should stop thinkin’ and just do it.”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

Punk’s arm wrapped around Evan’s middle, drawing their bodies completely together, his free hand tilting his chin up and angling his head so that their lips could meet as perfectly as possible.

Even though booze wasn’t his thing it was easy to ignore the lingering aftertaste on Evan’s breath and on his tongue, because the sweet flavour he remembered from last time that had to be pure Evan was still there. Punk was greedy and determined as he plundered Evan’s mouth, but the smaller man offered no protest and indeed gave back as good as he got, his other hand actually coming up and threading into Punk’s short hair as much as possible.

Everything else from the party seemed to melt away then as far as Evan was concerned, for he had nothing else in his focus apart from Punk. He wouldn’t have even cared if everyone in the room was standing and watching he and Punk make out, because they would only be jealous that he wasn’t paying attention to them.

When a sly hand went down to his buttocks, squeezing firmly over his jeans Evan couldn’t help but moan.

But, Punk, in his surprisingly gentlemanly manner, didn’t try to go any further than that.


	5. Chapter Four: Hell Hath No Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John awakens with more than a hangover to deal with, and Mike makes a long-overdue move that stuns everyone.

John's awakening came slowly and with some difficulty. At first there was simply the sensation of being awake, the wonderful few seconds before he realised his head was thudding dully and he tried to recall his movements the night before. A moment after that he remembered that Randy had cheated on him and they were no longer together, causing his headache to be joined by the familiar twisting in his gut that accompanied every morning these days. He tried to push it aside and focus on the previous night – oh yeah, the party. He'd had a couple of drinks and that was probably the reason for the headache. 

He'd gone with Evan and Ted, Evan had gone off looking for Punk (John honestly didn't see the attraction) while he and Ted had hung out, they'd been joined by Kelly and Layla and then he'd had one drink too many and things had gone from awkward but bearable to a complete blur...

Wait, not a complete blur. He could remember stumbling around, a few people laughing at him, almost knocking Kelly over (and the chivalrous side of him cringed and made a note to profusely apologise). He could remember being led inside while Kelly (probably, a girl for sure) had suggested he go lie down. And then strong arms taking him from the party, the familiar smell of spicy cologne that he knew so well, being taken care of by someone he trusted more than life itself, even though that trust had been horribly abused in the worst way already.

John opened his eyes and the sudden conviction that had come over him as the memories passed through his mind was confirmed; he wasn't at home in his own bed. Although this was a bed he had slept in on any number of occasions, the bed where he had lost his virginity, where he had let his wild side have free rein. It was familiar because it was Randy's. John let his eyes slip closed again, breathing in the scent of Randy's cologne and deodorant. It was comforting and at the same time a reason for turmoil. Hadn't he sworn he would never allow Randy to get this close to him again? And here he was, lying in Randy's bed, probably having been taken advantage of...

Wait, he thought to himself sternly, trying to cut through the sense of shame that was already threatening to overcrowd his mind. For one thing, he was still clothes, his shoes, socks and jeans missing but his boxers and shirt still on. For another thing, he didn't feel as if he had done anything and experience told him that he always knew when he and Randy had been intimate; Randy was not a small man in any sense of the word. And John was sure he wouldn't have been able to top anyone when he hadn't even been capable of walking unaided. 

And Randy simply wasn't the kind of man who would take advantages over someone who was drunk. John honestly believed that Randy wouldn't have taken him back for a sloppy fuck, he would know that John would never forgive him, or himself. And Randy was very serious about getting him back for good, John already knew that part. 

Opening his eyes again, John turned his head to the side to see what else was going on. The first thing that caught his eye was the can of cherry coke and a pack of nurofen on the bedside table, presumably for him. Pulling himself into a sitting position and wincing slightly, John reached out and opened the coke, killing his dry mouth in three large swigs that almost emptied the can. He popped the nurofen from the packet, deciding that three probably wasn't enough for an overdose, looking around the room. Randy wasn't there but he certainly had been, there was a pile of blankets on the floor that suggested Randy had spent the night down there. John felt a little guilty about that and a little relieved as well. At least he wouldn't have to ask Randy, just to be sure that nothing else happened between them that night that he simply didn't remember. 

He took the nurofen and finished the coke, settling back beneath the sheets again. He wanted to piss desperately but he suspected that Randy was probably in the shower and no way was he barging in there, not unless it became a matter of there or the floor and even then he'd have to think pretty hard about it. Randy in the shower was a magnificent sight and it wasn't a sight he though he could resist, not as delicate as he felt and with his dick in his hand.

It was less than five minutes when Randy walked into the room, a towel wrapped around his waist and a lot of flesh on display. He raised an eyebrow. “You're awake.”

“Yeah,” said John, biting back a slightly more sarcastic reply. Much as he wanted to snap, it would do no good and Randy had apparently looked after him when he was in no state to look after himself. Snapping would just be ungrateful.

“How are you feeling?”

“Rough,” said John. “And uh, like I could piss for a week. Bathroom free?”

“Be my guest,” said Randy, stepping aside so John could hurry through the door, not having to think about where he was going as he had been there so many times before, this house had been practically a second home until Randy fucked everything up. John made it to the bathroom and with the most pressing issue resolved, sighed dolefully. It was hard, as welcome as he felt in this house and as comfortable as he was there, he had no business there at all. 

It wasn't as if he could make his escape without his pants on, hell, Randy had probably hidden them somewhere for that very reason. John made his way back to Randy's room, letting himself in and finding, to his surprise, that Randy had actually put on some boxers. He'd had the feeling that the other would insist on walking about with nothing but a towel on, possibly with it 'accidentally' slipping off more than once, knowing full well that John had something of a fascination with Randy's ass. He felt oddly disappointed. 

Randy pointed. “Get back into bed, take some more sleep. I'll make you some breakfast and coffee.”

“I'm good--” John tilted his head and grimaced, apparently moving his head hadn't been a good idea because of dull flare of pain had shot through it as soon as he did so. And he felt a little sick, now he came to think about it. 

“You are, but you're not recovered.” Randy raised his eyebrows and John gave up, heading back over to the bed and slipping beneath the covers. Immediately the scent of Randy washed over him and he started feeling a lot better. Which wasn't a good thing at all. He didn't need to be feeling comfort in Randy's presence. 

“Stay there awhile,” said Randy calmly. “I'll bring you something to eat and you'll feel a lot better with something other than the cheap shitty booze JoMo supplies in your stomach.”

John was pretty sure that the beer hadn't been cheap but then again, he didn't remember drinking that much and just look at the state of him. He just hoped he hadn't puked on Randy, or anywhere else in front of people for that matter. He didn't remember doing that though. He could vaguely recall a cab ride home, then Randy had brought him upstairs--

He froze suddenly, as a memory struck him, late. 

“I won't be long,” said Randy, apparently unaware of his trauma. A moment later he was gone and John buried his head in the pillow, his absolute embarrassment not helped at all by the familiar scent that lingered there. 

He had been lain on the bed, mumbling something incoherent about the break-up – suddenly it had seemed vital that he explained to Randy that he didn't want them to be apart but he wasn't the one who made it necessary. But he hadn't been able to think of the words, or get his mouth to form them. He had said something along those lines and then it got a little blurred about exactly what had happened but there had been a kiss involved. He had kissed Randy last night, while he was lying in Randy's bed and he had enjoyed every moment of it. Even if he was too drunk to know how he had gotten there and too tired to do much more than kiss, he had loved it. He had missed it. And then Randy had just told him he needed to get to sleep and had slept on the floor. He could probably have slept in the bed, they had done so a hundred times without it being too cramped, and yet Randy had chosen to take the floor instead. Did that mean that Randy thought John had come on too strong, that he had no right to kiss him? No, Randy would probably have been delighted. On the other hand, if John was drunk out of his mind then there was a chance that the kiss had been awful for Randy, slobbery and beer scented. And maybe he had puked as well. 

John might be conflicted about the relationship but he knew damned well that he didn't want Randy's memory of their last kiss to be that one. 

Randy returned to the room some time later, bearing a bacon sandwich and coffee. John fell on the sandwich as if he hadn't seen food in a month – there was a lot to be said for the restorative power of bacon – and eyeing Randy as the other moved around the room, taking out jeans that John had always loved seeing him in and a shirt that showed off every inch of his muscular torso, although John thought he had preferred the view before Randy had put his clothes on. 

He finished the sandwich, drank the coffee in a couple of gulps and put the plate on the side, a little more loudly than necessary to get his ex's attention. Randy turned, saw the empties and gave John a bright smile that didn't seem entirely genuine. “Sleep some more if you like, or you can grab a shower. I've still got some of your shirts here if you'd like to change.”

The forced politeness made John's heart ache, made him miss Randy far more than when the man had been a ball of anger and hurt over the break up. It had been easy to be angry when Randy was being unreasonable, harder when he was being nice. 

“I'll just shower.” John ducked his head a little. “Randy?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you do all this? I mean, bring me home and look after me. You cut short your own party to do it. Why?”

Randy leaned against the wall, his eyes meeting John's, gaze never faltering. “Because I made a promise to you that I would always protect you, that I'd always be there for you and look after you. And I intend to keep it. You needed looking after, so I took care of you.”

“You slept on the floor--”

“You haven't exactly been welcoming me into your bed recently.”

“It's your bed.”

Randy shrugged. “I tend to think of it as ours. Anyway, I did as I said I would and kept you from getting into trouble, or breaking your neck falling over on the way home. Or getting molested by Kelly.”

John grimaced unconsciously and then wished he hadn't. “Thanks. I mean it.” And he did mean it. When they had split, he had never expected to see Randy as some kind of knight in shining armour, he never had been that when they were dating. He had simply been the man John had fallen in love with. But seeing him in a new light made John wonder if maybe there was something that he needed to think over again. 

“Anytime.” Randy didn't drop his gaze. 

“I'm hoping there won't be another time.” And while John wasn't lying about that in relation to the fool he'd made of himself at the party, he wasn't telling the whole truth either. He'd love to find some excuse to be waking in Randy's bed once more, preferably without Randy himself keeping his distance. 

But he was only doing as John had asked him to do.

~:~

Ted was the one to suggest the gang got together that afternoon, after finding out that John had not gone home and searching him out, feeling a fit of guilt over leaving him behind so that he could be with Cody for the evening. When he found out through texts that John was at Randy's house (and it wasn't one of John's texts that alerted him to the facts, the school gossip network wanted to know all the details and figured John's friends were the best place to get them) he groaned to himself and called John again, actually getting a reply this time and arranging to go pick him up and take him home. Randy didn't seem too pleased to be letting John leave but he did so with a vaguely appraising look at Ted that made the blonde slightly uncomfortable. He had no idea that Cody had already texted Randy three times, not mentioning Ted but making such a big deal about what a cool party it had been that Randy suspected that something had happened there – why else would Cody be so pleased? Especially when Randy knew Layla had been all over Ted like a rash at one point and Cody had not been pleased. 

John didn't look very well and Ted glanced at him as he drove back toward John's house. “You'll have to tell me what happened y'know.”

“I just feel...” John sighed. “Y'know what happened when I was leaving? I ran into Randy's mother and she gave me the biggest smile. Said that she'd missed seeing me and she'd been starting to think that me and Randy had fallen out.”

Ted frowned, changing gears. “You're telling me that she doesn't even know you broke up?”

“Randy got me out of her way pretty damned fast.”

“Whoa.” Ted pulled onto John's street – he didn't live all that far from Randy really – and noticed that Evan and Alex were sitting on the low wall outside John's parents property. He had hoped they would show up, Evan was always better at seeing both sides then Ted was and he thought that the smaller boy might be better at giving some advice. And he was pretty sure that if John had spent the night with Randy, then he needed some guidance and fast. 

The group wandered up to John's room, Ted following a few minutes later as he went to get energy drinks and paracetamol from the kitchen, John's parents didn't mind which of them went to get the snacks and Ted, who was always polite and friendly, was a favourite of theirs. John said his hellos but didn't linger and Ted was rather surprised that they simply let it go. Had it been him out all night and showing up the next day looking rough, with only a text to say where he'd been, he would have been invited to face his parents for a 'talk'. 

When he got back upstairs he found John sprawled on his own bed, Evan on the edge and Alex on the computer chair. Ted handed out the drinks and took his own favourite pew, perched on John's computer table. It was sturdy enough that he could sit there without it collapsing, although if John ever traded it for a more fashionable but flimsier version, Ted would probably sit on it without thinking and end up in a heap of wood, plastic and electronics. 

John became aware of all eyes on him. “What?”

Evan sighed. “What the hell John? What were you doing? We thought you were done with Randy for good--”

“Whoa, wait.” John raised a hand to silence Evan. “I didn't sleep with Randy, if that's what you're thinking. I got horribly drunk, he took me to his house and put me to bed. He slept somewhere else and uh, he was a gentleman.”

“Randy and gentleman aren't two words that fit well together in the same sentence,” said Evan sardonically.

“But he was.” John shrugged. “Nothing happened, except he put me to bed, then made me breakfast and coffee. Then Ted came over to pick me up.”

“Didn't he say anything about you getting back together?” Ted looked unconvinced. “He's been following you around and trying to force you into seeing him again and when he gets you back to his room, he doesn't do anything?”

“That's it,” replied John, refusing to let himself think about that kiss or wonder who had instigated it. He already knew who had stopped it and it hadn't been him. 

There was a moment of quiet before Alex spoke up cautiously. “Everyone's talking about it,” he said, almost apologetically. “I already got a load of texts asking how I feel about you cheating on me with Randy.”

“Oh fuck,” groaned John. “I've had a ton of texts but I haven't gotten to any except the ones from Ted. I bet they're all about that... shit, I don't wanna talk about it anymore.” He rubbed his hands over his face and looked up at Alex. “How did your date go?”

Alex's face lit up, telling them all they really needed to know. “It was great,” he said enthusiastically. “It was – well, it was great.”

“And you're really not bothered about the Maryse thing?” asked Ted curiously. 

Alex's face darkened just as quickly as his joy had shown through. “It bugs the hell outta me,” he said through gritted teeth. “I told him last night that I wouldn't go out with him again until he was through with her and –“He shrugged. “He offered to text her to tell her. Is it me or is that cold?”

“That's cold,” said Evan firmly. “I'd watch your heart around that boy if I were you.”

“It's not necessarily a bad thing,” said Ted unexpectedly. “From what I hear, Maryse isn't exactly a good listener. And if he was so willing to do it right away, then he was trying to prove a point.”

“You think that a text is an appropriate way to split up with someone?” Evan shook his head. “You can tell that you don't go on many dates.”

“That's what you think,” Ted shot back. 

The room fell silent and John sat further up, eyebrows raised. “Something you're not telling us Teddy?”

“Uh...” Ted shrugged. “I thought we were talking about Alex's date with Mike.” 

“I laid down an ultimatum that I wouldn't see Mike again until he's split with her, in person,” said Alex. “I don't share and I don't want him to look like the bad guy when this gets out because of the text thing. Now, what's your news Ted?”

Ted struggled with himself a moment, wanting to tell but he'd made such a big deal of secrecy... still, these were his best friends. He decided to tell the truth by dodging the question. “Did any of you guys know that Cody Rhodes liked me?”

All three groaned loudly, John covering his face with his hands and Evan rolling his eyes. “Ted,” said Evan, as if he was talking to a child. “Everyone knows that Cody's infatuated with you. Except for you, apparently.”

“That boy's been trying to catch your eye for years,” added John. “He didn't tag along when Randy came over to talk to me because he wanted tips.”

“I've been here a couple of weeks and I know he likes you,” said Alex with a grin. “He's always looking at you and giving you these hopeful looks – oh, and when you run past him in gym class he about trips over his own feet.”

Ted shook his head. “And no one thought to tell me about this?”

“We thought you were ignoring him,” said John. “We didn't think even you could be that blind.”

“Well I didn't know, okay?” Ted sounded rather peevish about the conversation.

“What made you suddenly notice?” asked Evan. “And what's this thing about a date tonight.... please tell me Layla's not asked you and you didn't know how to say no.”

“Layla didn't ask me,” said Ted haughtily. “I managed to lose her once we'd gone into the house...” He frowned. “Actually, when we left you, you weren't actually that drunk. You seemed fine. It must have snuck up on you pretty fast.”

“Stop changing the subject,” said John. 

“Fine!” Ted looked down at his knees, managing to both blush and smile at the same time. “I'm taking Cody out tonight.”

“Seriously?” Evan stared at Ted with an incredulous grin coming over his face. “About time!”

“What---”

“Oh come on, the amount of time you've been single, refusing to even consider looking at someone else and Cody pining after you with no idea if you like him or not--”

“But we all know you're into him as well,” added John. 

Ted looked at him worriedly. “How did you know that?”

“We're your friends. We noticed.”

Alex nodded. “If it's been going on as long as you say, then it's high time one of you made a move.” He leaned back and smirked. “So, I had a nice night, you had a nice night, John had an interesting night...”

“Screw you,” grumbled John. 

Alex stuck his tongue out a moment and looked over at Evan. “How was your night?”

“Yeah,” asked Ted. “Did you get to find out what it's like kissing a guy with a mouth full of metal?”

“You make it sound like he's got braces! He's got perfect teeth!”

“And how close to an examination did you get?” asked John with a grin, although a part of him was starting to wonder what was going on. With all of his friends getting involved with all of Randy's friends, there was a good chance he wasn't going to be able to hide from the man in shame at his actions.

Evan shrugged, colouring. “Let's just say that unless Mike and Cody get brave, you are never gonna get the benefits of a boyfriend with a pierced tongue.”

“Woooo!” chanted the group in unison and Evan managed an embarrassed laugh, trying to hide his face as the questions poured in. They all noticed that most of the teasing came from John, apparently trying to shake off any possible questions about what might have happened to him the night before but they understood why he might not want to revisit that right then and left the subject alone for the moment. 

It was just a shame, they all thought to themselves, that they would be the only ones with that much consideration.

~::~ 

“You look like you’ve got something important to do.”

Mike looked up from using the mirror in the hallway by the front door to adjust his hat. He was wearing one of his usual t-shirt and jean ensembles complete with boots and fedora.

“I do,” he responded to his sister, ignoring the pointed look she was giving him.

“Dad will freak.”

“Which bit do you think’ll get him more?” Mike asked dryly, “That he can’t use me to boost his business or that I wanna fuck a dude.”

Tonia smirked, “You tellin’ me that you’re the pitcher?”

Mike looked horrified, “Don’t ever use that analogy on me again and—dude, why am I even talking about this with you?”

“Because I’m cool with it and you could use all the support you can get when dad gets told?”

“Oh yeah…” Mike mumbled, adjusting his hat again.

He knew he wanted to do this, that he needed to do this if he wanted to stand a chance with Alex in the first place, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous. Not so much about Maryse (she wouldn’t be stupid enough to think that he couldn’t damn well take her apart if she decided to go around spreading shit and lies out of her butt-hurt ego; he knew just as much shit about her after all, and some things daddy definitely wouldn’t want to hear concerning his princess) but because of his father. He cared about the man despite their occasional clashes, loved him despite his tendency to be a hard-nosed bastard… but he wasn’t going to take any shit over this. Mike had never felt even remotely like this for anyone else ever before--- and even he knew you shouldn’t snub that.

After all, even Randy was proof of that; he’d been really changed by John, and now he didn’t have him the way he once did he was undergoing numerous changes again, and all in the name of his feelings. Not that Randy would ever admit that he had feelings should you go and ask him about it.

“Mikey…” Tonia placed a hand on his shoulder, face reassuring, “You can do this. Just go over there and tell the poodle to go and spread her diseases elsewhere.”

Mike couldn’t help but grin slightly; Tonia always had a way of making him feel more at ease, “You never liked her did you?”

“Are you joking? I’m just glad you never were stupid enough to do her without protection; god-forbid if she’d been carrying your baby—“it was on that horrified note that she all but pushed Mike out of the front door where he stumbled a few steps before catching himself, sticking his tongue out at her from where she waved from the front door before he then headed to his car. It was a good job his parents had both been out doing… something that morning, otherwise he wasn’t sure he could have coped with the pressure of what he was going to do.

But, Mike Mizanin was no wuss, and he’d be damned if he let a woman, and his father, cow him into spending the rest of his adult-life trapped in what would undoubtedly be a loveless and faithless marriage. On both sides; because why the hell should you be faithful if the spouse is playing away?

The drive to Maryse’s seemed to take no time at all and Mike exhaled as he headed up the expansive front walk. The usual maid opened the door, welcomed him in heavily accented English and showed him inside the sprawling house, telling him Maryse was in his room. Wherever the rest of Maryse’s family were he had no idea… actually, for all they seemed really close and all whenever they were around one another he had noticed on the occasions when he had come over to the French-Canadian’s home that they all seemed to stay away from one another. Taking the steps up to the floor where Maryse’s room was Mike then paused outside of the door and closed his eyes momentarily to prepare himself.

He could do this. He just had to man-up and tell her the right way. Make sure she got it.

After all, for all her vanity and her flaws, she had been his first real girlfriend and he had fancied himself in love with her before he had wised-up when it had come to all that kind of thing, and seen what kind of girl she really was.

Upon opening the painted white door Mike was only mildly surprised when a ridiculously bright pink silk throw pillow was thrown at his face, and an explosion of high, barely intelligible French was screeched at him almost a moment later. The throw-pillow dropped to his feet, Mike lightly kicking it inside of the room before he closed the door; this was going to be messy enough as it was without the staff listening in, although he had no doubt that they would have been given a version of events that painted him as the bad guy before the day was out. The fact that he never intended to be back in that house of his own will after the upcoming conversation could have attributed to his somewhat blasé attitude on what they may be told and what they would subsequently believe.

“Are you finished?”

“Excuse?” Maryse shrieked, picking up another pillow from her large bed, a white pillow this time hitting Mike in the chest. A few steps across the room and she could have reached her vanity… but Mike doubted she would risk any damage to her precious perfume bottles even if one of them striking Mike was almost assured to do more damage than a pillow would do.

“You heard me: are you finished having a tantrum yet?”

“’Ow dare you lecture me?” although it was early in the morning, and the night-after a party, Maryse’s hair was already styled, fresh make-up applied as well as being dressed in form-hugging jeans and an unnecessarily tight jumper. She was a looker, but looks were only skin deep and Mike had looks, brains and personality in Alex. No contest; he had always preferred brunette’s to blondes anyway. “After leaving me alone at a party last night, and not answering your phone to me, you should be in ‘ere on bended knee weez a gift and begging for my apology!”

Mike snorted, “Wake up bimboid; I don’t owe you shit.”

This time when the pillow was aimed at his head Mike merely lifted a hand and batted it away disinterestedly.

“You are in so much trouble--!”

“No, I’m not. And I suggest you sit down and shut your damn mouth for once!” Mike snapped, finally reaching the limit of his patience with her temper.

Surprise more than anything seemed to shush her, but Mike didn’t have time to dwell on his victory; he knew he had to act now otherwise he would have missed a golden opportunity. Shutting Maryse up was considered almost impossible by anyone who had ever met her for even five minutes.

“We should break up.”

Silence fell between them.

And then, finally---

“What did you jus’ say?”

“I said we should break up,” Mike repeated as he tried to keep his voice neutral and ignored the way that her surprisingly blank face had set an uncomfortable feeling crawling up his spine, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.

“You cannot leave me.”

She sounded so confident that Mike felt his carefully controlled temper spiking again.

“I can! I don’t have to stay with you! I don’t care what my father wants.”

“Yes you do,” Maryse was all but hissing at him now, her pretty face twisted into an almost grotesque mask, like one of those (what were they called again?) harpy things that Bourne had been banging on about when they had been studying this play in English last year, “You care about what ‘e thinks, and if you do anything to screw up our engagement he would disinherit you without a penny!”

That thought had crossed his mind but Mike found he didn’t care; for all he was wild and teenager-reckless he wasn’t an idiot when it came to his cash and he had a bank-account that was all his that his old man couldn’t touch. Sure, without his part of the inheritance he would be nowhere near as well off as he was used to, but that seemed a small price to pay in order to come out from under his father’s thumb. Worse came to worse and he got kicked out of the house he was sure one of his friends could put him up for a bit at least until he had managed to find himself somewhere.

“So be it. I don’t want you, and I don’t want to be with you. We’re over.”

Maryse sneered and sauntered over, pressing her rounded, upright breasts against his chest and grabbing at his groin. Once upon a time that blatant treatment would have been enough to override his common sense and have his libido taking over but for once his mind held out and Mike pointedly but firmly pushed her away. If anything that seemed to shock her more than anything else he had said that evening… and that had to say everything about her right there didn’t it?

“We’re over,” he repeated flatly before turning on his heel and leaving Maryse’s bedroom.

The screaming started just before the door closed, and when Mike heard something hard connecting with the door, and even something shattering, he had to wonder if she had actually lost it enough to throw a bottle of perfume at him after all… that would probably piss her off even more. Oh well.

Feeling top of the world in that moment Mike was whistling as he headed back down the stairs, out across the foyer and then down to his car. As he settled in his vehicle he had one last glance up at Maryse’s house before he then tapped out a quick text to Alex; he’d better tell him that he had actually managed to go through with it, if only because he might actually not get the chance to see and tell him in person at least until Monday at school should his father make an effort to ground him, confiscate his phone or his laptop and otherwise attempt to cut him off from his friends.

Now there was nothing stopping him from taking Alex Riley as his own.

~::~

“You managed not to scare him off then?”

“I’m not that bad… you didn’t get laid last night then.”

“I don’t sleep with the comatose by habit Cody.”

“Coulda fooled me.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Meow… I woulda thought you’d be in a better mood than this,” Cody frowned softly as he looked up from where he had been standing before his full length mirror holding different shirts up before himself so that he could decide what to wear that evening. He wanted something dressy enough to show himself off, but not so dressy that he would stand out too much in the cinema or make Ted feel overwhelmed… Definitely not what he usually thought when he dressed for Ted; usually he dressed for Ted to knock the other off his feet.

“Well, I’m not…” Randy sighed; trying to get John out of the house had been so damned awkward after his mother’s innocent (but plan-threatening) input, and had he not actually succeeded in getting John out to where Ted was waiting then everything could have come out to his mother then and there… and he still wasn’t ready to face her disappointment. It was one thing for parents to overlook their children’s mistakes but Randy knew that this wouldn’t be easily forgiven for they had genuinely liked John and had welcomed him in as one of their family due to his connection with Randy.

“Maybe you should have tried sleeping with him comatose…”

“You’re a sick bitch. I think I should wait until later to warn DiBiase never to go to sleep before you in the same room.”

“Fuck you,” Cody shot back and then turned towards Randy holding up a black shirt and a white shirt. Both were simple, but that was the plan, and both were colours that suited him well. Cody was leaning more towards the white shirt but he wanted a second opinion. He already had the perfect dark blue jeans in mind and his shoes, so it was just the shirt, “Which one?”

“Neither.”

“Stop being a bitch!” Cody said, and he sounded so upset for a moment that Randy actually stopped and sighed.

“You know you look hot in white.”

“Yeah? I think so too,” but the smile Cody sent him told Randy that he really did appreciate his input, however reluctant.

“It’s about time he finally pitied you enough to cave in…”

“It wasn’t out of pity,” Cody flipped him off and hung the black shirt back into his wardrobe as he hung the white one on the outside to keep it from creasing. One of his newest (and yet to be worn) hoodies was also placed aside to wear in case the weather got cooler, and to tone down his outfit just a tiny bit.

“Sure it wasn’t… Make sure you play safe though. And be home before midnight.”

“For the first? I wish! For the second? That’s almost a given.”

“Oh yeah, his parents are overprotective aren’t they?” Randy yawned, not really into the conversation and feeling bad about it. Cody had been so excited when he’d asked Randy to come over when Randy had called him after finishing getting ready once John had left and he hadn’t wanted to bring the other down. He still didn’t want to bring him down, but at the same time there was a part of him that was pretty damn bummed that things still seemed so bad between him and John when Randy had actually been the Good Samaritan for once, and that Cody suddenly seemed to have easily gained what he wanted out of nowhere when he had been fighting for so much as a conversation with Ted for years.

“Have you heard from Mike today?”

“No,” Randy stretched, reclining back on Cody’s bed where he was sprawled out, “Why?”

“I was wondering how his date went.”

“Date?”

“You know--- with John’s new boy.”

“He’s not John’s boy,” Randy snapped and Cody held his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry! Jeez, I just phrased it badly… I meant with Riley. I mean, you know that’s where he had to be right?”

Randy muttered something unintelligible; he still didn’t like Alex despite the promises he had made to John, and the fact that he had held back from kicking the shit out of him over what had turned out to be a fictitious relationship… He was still pretty pissed at John for leading him on about that even though he knew he probably deserved worse, for the other to actually go off with some new guy and never so much as look at him in passing ever again.

“I tried calling him but got no answer…”

“Now that is weird.”

“I know right?” Cody frowned softly, unsure whether to be concerned, or more technically, not as concerned as he was, “I mean, he’s never without the damn phone. The only time he doesn’t answer calls is in class…” or during sex usually, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t once or twice.

“He’s probably just at the mall buying some new hats.”

As Randy had hoped mention of the mall distracted Cody from that line of conversation and opened up a new one, “Ooh, let’s go to the mall for lunch!”

“You’re such a flaming queer, you know that right Code?”

“You’re just mad ‘cause I’m a better flaming queer than you, bitch.”

~::~

Meanwhile, back in her room, Maryse Ouellette was enraged.

How dare Mike break up with her?

No one dumped Maryse; if anyone was to be dumped, it was them by her!

But, even in her rage she couldn’t quite figure something out: what had changed in Mike all of a sudden? He had never been especially bothered by her seeing other men before, and he hadn’t exactly cited that as his reason for their breaking up (he hadn’t even given her a reason) but that had to be it… Maybe his jealousy had just gotten too much and he had done something silly? Yes, that had to be it: tomorrow he would be back there with a new dress, or some jewellery for her, begging for her forgiveness as she had said before.

However, Maryse’s belief in that was soon shot down when she received a picture-message on her phone from one of her vague friends in the gossip circle; as a rule she couldn’t stand the girl but despite being part of the clique Maryse headed in their school, she was easily overlooked. And that seemed to have been the case last night too.

The photo showed a very attractive young man (she wouldn’t mind sinking her own teeth into that one, come to mention it…) standing just before Mike in what appeared to be a booth at some diner somewhere. They were laughing, Mike’s face open and bright, the other boy’s face seeming so very pleased even to be there. They appeared to be completely at ease at one another, close, and completely oblivious to anything around them. The new guy was helping Mike into his coat, and Mike was standing in that way that he usually did that subtly show-cased his body.

Maryse should know, as for the longest time she had been the only one Mike would use that stance around.

Her hands shook somewhat as she typed out a frantic text to the girl in question: she wanted to know who the boy was, and what his connection to Mike was.

Now, Maryse knew Mike had apparently been with other men before (but even her sources had, most annoyingly, not been able to confirm anything past more than a few drunken kisses and some touching) but she had never been confronted with something so subtle, so innocent, and yet so very telling all the same.

It was so humiliating!

“Oh no you don’t, little worm,” Maryse muttered, bringing up and enlarging the picture of Mike and the unknown boy once more, “I ‘ave put in too much time and effort with Michael to let someone else just swan een ‘ere and take ‘im away from me… Let ‘im ‘ave his fun with you, but I can promise you that ‘ee will soon be returned to me.”

There was no way, after everything, that she was losing out on the prestige, wealth and notoriety that would have followed the merger of her family with Mike’s upon their marriage. No way, it wasn’t happening; after all she’d been through with Mike it was the least she deserved from him.

~::~

Cody got his way in the end about eating at the mall, although Randy didn't put up much of a battle, merely sent quick texts to Punk and Mike telling them where they were and suggesting they met up. They got a text back from Punk a while later, telling them that he was on his way and in the meantime Randy was on his way, driving them both and bickering with Cody about the radio station. It was unusual that he drove the day after a party, the last thing he needed was to get pulled over with his blood-alcohol level over the limit, but he had barely touched the beer the night before and decided he was safe enough before taking the car to Cody's. 

“I'll never know why you love eating here so much,” said Randy ruefully as they took their seats, scanning the place for any signs of Punk. He hadn't arrived but then again he spent so much of his life in trouble that it was a given he wasn't going to get to use his car in some desperate attempt to make him toe the line. Usually he managed to get use of it just after a school report; Punk was bright and made good grades, it was just his mouth that got him into trouble and he would lose the use of the car within the week. Probably he was walking, since Punk loathed public transport of any kind. 

“I like people watching,” said Cody casually. “You see all kinds. How many times have we seen someone with someone they shouldn't be with just by sitting here?”

“That happened exactly once.”

“Happened though. Also, we saw at least four great rows.”

“We only knew two of the couples though.”

“That doesn't matter! How many people do you know on the Springer show? Exactly none, but it's still fun watching right?”

“...Nope.”

“You're in a shitty mood lately. Perhaps you should have screwed the comatose after all.”

Randy rolled his eyes and Punk chose that moment to show up, faster than they would have expected but maybe he had been out and about. Or maybe it was the allure of gossip; Punk claimed to be above it all but when it was on a subject he cared about he could be as hungry for all the gory details as the next man. 

“Hey,” said Punk casually, dropping into a chair beside Cody. “What's new? Is Mike gonna be joining us?”

“There's plenty new and I've no idea about Mike, he's being evasive,” said Cody, his voice rather scornful. He'd never been much good at evasiveness himself. “Guess what?”

“You stole Layla from Ted?”

Randy snorted with laughter as Cody's face took on a look of sheer horror and even Punk struggled to keep a straight face as Cody tried to avoid one of his tirades. “Ewg, no! Why would you say something like that – and stop smirking at me! What the hell put you in a good mood for once?”

Punk leaned back, smirking. “What do you think?”

“Let me guess, some five-foot brunette supergeek?”

Punk frowned. “He's not a supergeek, for your information. And he's at least five-eight!”

“Tell you what,” Randy butted in. “When I get home, I'll see how high off the ground my nipples are and then we'll know for sure.”

“Fuck you two,” said Punk comfortably. “But yes, I managed to make an impression on Ev last night and I'm gonna see if he wants to do something tonight.”

“More homework?” asked Randy cynically.

“Hey, if the zombie apocalypse comes when I'm bumming around Paris, thanks to him I'll be able to survive.” Punk was refusing to be fazed. “In any case, because he's also my tutor I'll get the chance to go see him the next time my parents have one of their freak-outs. And I'm not grounded at the moment.”

“So you get to go on plenty of dates, until the next time you open your mouth and get yourself grounded again,” said Cody. 

For the first time Punk looked slightly concerned. “I can keep my mouth shut when I have to.”

“Suuure.” Cody smirked at Punk, not believing it for a moment – it would probably cause Punk physical pain to try to keep his sarcasm held in and most of the time it was out of his mouth before he could even consider if he should hold it back or not. Cody would just bet it would get him in trouble before long but for the moment he was too excited to worry too much about what Punk would do at some undetermined time in the future. “And you're not the only one who had an exciting night, just for your information. I have a date this evening, so if you and Evan are doing anything you'd better not show up at the cinema!”

“Not while you're there to ruin the mood.” Punk raised his eyebrow. ”You're telling me you took your eyes off of DiBiase long enough to see someone else?”

“Nope.” Cody beamed. “I uh, let my mouth run away with me and Ted agreed to go out with me tonight!”

Punk laughed, long and loud but not maliciously. “Wow, I thought you'd be in the old folks home trying to twirl around your walking stick and still not getting his attention. The best of luck.”

“Thanks.”

“I hear his parents are very over-protective and are probably gonna insist on you being fitted with a chastity belt before you go anywhere.”

“Ha, not likely.” Cody squirmed a little. “Anyway, we're uh, trying to keep it to ourselves for the moment. So they don't know and you should probably make sure not to mention it to Evan unless Ted let him in on it.”

“Oh boy.” Punk rolled his eyes. “We're just full of things being kept from our parents lately.”

“This is what Ted wants – his olds are kinda strict and he doesn't think it's worth the fight if we're gonna break up in three weeks.” Cody pouted at the thought. “Not that we will. Are we ordering?”  
“Whose turn is it to buy?” asked Randy.

Punk held up his hands. “Don't look at me, I'm still on a cashless existence because of the piercings.” 

Cody rolled his eyes. “I'll pay, but only because I'm in a good mood. And because I've no idea how you're planning on taking Evan anywhere if you're still not allowed your cards.”

“I'm not dumb Cody, I stashed some aside for a rainy day. But Evan counts as a rainy day and greasy mall burgers don't.”

“But you still want a greasy mall burger?”

“You're buying? I'll have two. Also fries and a pepsi.”

“What, not a diet pepsi?” asked Cody with mild sarcasm. “Randy?”

“Same, but I'll have vanilla milkshake with mine.”

“How you two don't battle acne and obesity every day of your lives is beyond me.” Cody gave them a haughty look and headed off to buy their food. 

“How were things with John?” asked Punk.

Randy shrugged. “Could have been worse. It didn't go exactly like I hoped it might but hell, he knows that I dragged him out of the party and saved him from Kelly's clutches and I'm capable of being around without thinking of sex, leaving him to it or jumping anyone else. So I guess I proved a point. He's gonna be thinking about it.”

“Yeah? Well I think he's gonna be the centre of gossip all over again on Monday and he won't like that very much.” Punk looked suddenly amused. “Though this time, instead of you being some kind of asshole for doing the dirty on him, you're his hero for looking out for him and you just know there'll be some nauseating romantic spin on it somewhere, you not taking your eyes off of him or some crap. Either that or you're the asshole for taking him home and nailing him when he's unconscious.”

“I didn't do anything to him! Shit!”

Punk just laughed and at that moment his phone beeped, signalling a message. He pulled it from his pocket just as Randy heard his own phone sounding an alert and looked over the way to see Cody remove his own phone from his pocket. 

“Mike,” said Punk before Randy could ready the message – his phone was top of the range and had cost a small fortune, it looked great whenever he pulled it from his pocket and yet actually doing anything on the damned machine seemed horribly complicated. Punk's on the other hand was over a year old and he could do pretty much anything without having to bother overmuch about working it all out and Randy had to admit, it didn't seem any slower than his own. Maybe Punk had the right idea about phones being just another status symbol that he refused to buy into. “He's here, on his way. Says can we grab him two burgers and a chocolate milkshake. Wait, two chocolate milkshakes. Wow. Maybe his date didn't go so well.”

“Huh, he hasn't done the milkshake-solace thing since he found he could drink booze with Maryse all weekend if he wanted,” said Randy, but a little curiously. Mike had always gone for his staple comforts when he had been distressed in the past and here it was again. Sometimes Randy wondered if Mike's partying came about from the same kind of principle; that being around Maryse depressed him enough that he wanted to drink something that made it seem better, even if just temporarily. 

Cody got back to the table before Mike showed up, a tray full of food in his hands and a grim look on his face. “We have unexpected company,” he said in a low voice, as if he expected someone to be listening in – which maybe wasn't so far-fetched. “Layla and Kelly are drinking coffee at the booth in the corner don't look! They've not got a great view of the table but it'll do and I wouldn't have seen them if I hadn't gone to order food.”

Punk shrugged. “So maybe they're hungry.”

“Hello? Girls, those girls, eating burgers? Are you mad? They've got a cup of coffee each.”

“There you go, they stopped for a drink.”

“There's a Starbucks over the way. Why drink the shitty coffee here?”

“Huh.” Randy shook his head a little. “Let them hang around, if they think they're gonna get any new gossip. What are they hoping for, John to come over here and jump me?”

Cody slid into his seat, biting his lip. “Maybe they're waiting for Ted--”

“Cody,” said Randy as kindly as he could. “I doubt it. Ted picked John up from my house and I don't think he ditched him and then came out here to meet Layla, not if he's meeting with you this evening. Most likely they were killing time and spied us and thought they might see if they can pick up anything the gossip whores won't already be buzzing about on Monday. Because we'll be getting talked about.”

“You guys maybe.” Cody smiled a little. “I ducked out of the way with my man.”

“After you peeled Layla off him.” Randy frowned. “How did you manage that by the way?”

Cody explained about Melina and the wine cooler and by the time Mike arrived and saw them, they were all laughing hysterically and making inappropriate comments. Mike looked slightly bemused but took a seat, waiting for Cody to dive into the packets and work out whose was whose. 

“Fruit and fries.” Mike shook his head, smiling a little. “Cody, that's horrible.”

“This from the man drinking two milkshakes and wearing that hat.” Cody passed around the food and watched curiously as Mike slurped at his milkshake, drinking enough to empty a third of the container before even looking to unwrap his burger. “What's wrong? Your date not go so well?”

“My date went really well.” Mike grinned to himself and pulled his fedora a little lower so his blush wasn't quite so obvious. “It was awesome. We really hit it off.”

Punk nodded. “So why are you in here, all quiet and drowning your sorrows in a double shot of chocolate?” he asked bluntly. 

Mike shrugged, swallowing the bite of burger he'd managed. “He uh, he's a little sensitive about the girlfriend thing. He doesn't want to share apparently.”

Randy shook his head a little, the gesture showing impatience and mild confusion. “So? You explained how things are for you, right?”

“Right,” said Mike with deep sarcasm. “I thought our first date...” He trailed off a moment, remembering that between him and Alex, it wasn't really their first date at all. “I thought that our first date would be a great time to bring up the fact that my parents are psychos who're more interested in the neighbours opinions and making sure that their lives and ours are picture-perfect scenes of the rich and bored, instead of bothering about the little things like what I might actually want. Yeah, like I'd ever tell him that.”

“If you don't explain, you'll have to see if he'll take the 'bit on the side' thing,” warned Cody. “And he said he wouldn't.”

“He won't have to take it,” said Mike, clutching the milkshake a little too tightly. “I ditched Maryse.”

The table fell deadly silent, the other three boys forgetting to chew as they stared at Mike with genuine surprise. Mike glanced at them defensively. “What? Why not?”

Punk swallowed, then let out a long exhale. “Oh boy. I think our parent problems might be paling in comparison Codes.”

Cody nodded, but he wasn't really paying attention. “What did your parents say?”

“Well... I haven't been home yet.”

The group exchanged looks. Mike didn't always go home at weekends and he often used Maryse as an excuse, even though it wasn't that he was always with her. She covered for him, or at least didn't care enough to get her into trouble over it. It wasn't unusual for Mike not to be home but if Maryse called looking for him...

“I think I need the space.” Mike slurped noisily at his milkshake. “You see, this is how I see it. Maryse is going to freak out. Well, she already did, but she's not done yet. We know that much, right?”

“Right,” said Punk with a grin. “And now you're not sticking it to her, I can finally tell her to fuck off when she starts screeching. Perfect.”

“But I'm not sure she'll share it with her parents yet, or mine.” Mike tapped his fingers against the cardboard cup. “She'll be looking for ways to get me back without them knowing it was ever off, she'll wait a couple of weeks before she pulls that trick I think. And that might give me a week or two of peace before the shit hits the fan.”

“I dunno,” said Randy doubtfully. “I've been finding out lately that lies tend to be found out.”

“It's not a lie, it's just an – omission.”

“Yeah, and they tend to get found out as well,” said Randy gloomily. 

“I know they'll find out, in the end. But for the moment, it's one less headache and I might as well have a couple of weeks when I can see Alex without it being a big drama – or my dad going over to see his dad.” Mike grimaced a little. “He'd probably say that Maryse and I were engaged and I was confused and didn't know how to break things off with Alex and needed a strict hand, or something like that. Blech. Miek wrinkled his nose. “Just a little saving grace. Why not?”

“Isn't that what we've all been thinking?” Randy looked around the table at the others, who at least had the good grace to blush. 

“It's perfect,” said Mike. “As long as she keeps trying to woo me back alone, that is. And I'm not in a hurry to rush along telling my parents she's not man enough for me.”

Punk looked interested. “And what if she decides she wants to tell her dad to bring her back her runaway pet right now?”

“Then I'm fucked,” said Mike immediately and the group started to laugh, Mike relaxing a little as the subject of Maryse was left behind for the moment and they moved onto his date with Alex, the party the night before and their various plans for the night. But he couldn't help feeling the blot on the landscape; the people who would not let him make his own decisions clouding his otherwise happy thoughts.


	6. Chapter Five: As Luck Would Have It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys prepare for their dates and Randy finally convinces John to have dinner with him-- on the condition that they can 'talk'.

“You seem nervous Teddy, something on your mind?” Alex grinned slightly as he walked alongside the blonde on the way back home. John had some errands to run, Evan and Ted were expected home for lunch… and Alex had declined accompanying John when offered only because he was… well, hoping for Mike to call him that day sometime, not because he actually had anything else to do. Was it sad he was so stumped for daytime plans with his friends occupied that he was actually considering trying to sit down and do his science homework on the weekend before instead of throwing something together the day before it was due as he normally would?

Ted stuck his tongue out lightly, absently fiddling with a chain he wore around his neck. Alex had to admit to being mildly surprised to finding that the chain bore no crucifix on the end as he had thought there would be given how religious Ted’s family were. It was probably stereotypical of him to think such a thing (and somewhat unfair to Ted) since he was nothing like the typical minister’s son throwing religion down their throats… that and he fancied another boy, Alex had always believed that would be completely outside the realm of acceptance, even hypothetically.

“I am nervous.”

The shy, somewhat embarrassed words immediately drew Alex from his thoughts and he smiled softly before clapping Ted on the shoulder and squeezing gently, “First date jitters?”

“You saying you’ve never had them?”

“Not saying that at all… I had ‘em last night.”

“That wasn’t your first first date though, was it?”

Ted had never done anything more than play-dates before puberty and nothing much past extended social occasions since puberty, so he didn’t exactly have a frame of reference for what he was supposed to do or say that evening.

“No,” Alex’s tone made Ted look up from where he’d subconsciously fallen into that old childhood game of superstition trying to avoid the cracks in the pavement--- and he almost tripped over his own feet when he noticed how drawn Alex looked, how pale… He really didn’t look good at all.

“Alex?” Ted bit his lip; had he said something wrong?

Almost as quickly as the strange tension had enveloped Alex it was gone, leaving in place the smiling friend he had come to regard as fondly as even his oldest friends John and Evan.

“Sorry man, spaced out a little there. Really, don’t sweat it; Rhodes is so crazy about you that you could probably spill a drink all over him and hog all the popcorn and he’ll just think you’re the niftiest.”

Coral pink lips quirked into an amused smile, “Niftiest?”

“Don’t pretend he doesn’t use that word; I’ve heard it.”

What could Ted say? He found Cody’s geeky qualities positively endearing.

“It’s not the date that’s got you totally nervous though, is it?” Alex asked and Ted awkwardly rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he gave an uncomfortable half-shrug. He didn’t need to go into detail about how his parents might react once they found out.

Reaching the corner of the street where they split off Alex levelled Ted with something of a sad smile then, “Trust in your parents Ted. If they love you the way they’re supposed to then they’ll love you no matter what.”

Without giving Ted a chance to respond Alex turned and started down the street, waving his hand over his shoulder back at the blonde who remained somewhat frozen to the spot. What had just happened? As he watched Alex’s retreating back he had the distinct impression that he was missing something, and something told him that he wasn’t the only one.

After all, how much did they really know about Alex?

~::~

“Is something wrong dear?”

Ted sincerely hoped his cheeks hadn’t coloured in any overly telling way as he hovered in the doorway to the kitchen where his mother was waiting besides the over, apparently in the midst of baking the way she was wont to do. His stomach rumbled slightly despite himself and his nerves and his mother laughed, “You can have some cookies after your lunch--- it’s on the table.” And indeed there sat two sandwiches on a plate with a packet of his favourite crisps accompanying them.

Padding over to the table Ted thanked his mother and then sat, using the excuse of starting to eat his sandwich to prevent having to answer his mother. He didn’t know why he was acting so guilty; it wasn’t as though he was really lying to her when he said he was going out with a male friend, he just wasn’t quite admitting to the depth of feeling that he had for said male friend and that said friend had for him.

“Am I OK to go see a film tonight?”

His mother looked up from checking her timer and cocked her head in the standard parental curiosity, “With John and Evan? And the new boy… you said you’d made friends with him?”

“No--- I mean, yes, I’ve made friends with him but no it’s not them. It’s, um, another friend.”

As he had hoped she wouldn’t his mother immediately got that subtly cunning look in her eye and Ted could have kicked himself; why did he have to be so awkward? He practically fed his guilt to her on a silver platter!

“What friend, dear?”

“Cody…” Ted cleared his throat softly and amended, “Cody Rhodes,” for he didn’t doubt their mothers would have run into each other some point. He just hoped that if they had indeed met at any time the meetings had been positive ones.

If he wasn’t mistaken his mother looked upset for a moment before then relaxing and smiling, “I don’t see why not… it isn’t a school night or anything. Make sure you don’t leave any homework too late though.”

“I won’t,” Ted assured her before taking another healthy bite from the sandwich.

That seemed to satisfy his mother and she looked away, then adding, “Your father and I have some work to do at the church tonight anyway, so I’m sure he won’t mind either. I know you’re not a child anymore but I don’t like the thought of you being home alone—”

Ted could count on one hand the number of times he’d been left alone in the house before age sixteen, and even since then the occasions seemed to be unnervingly far and few between given how many opportunities his friends usually had for the same eventuality.

“Alone?”

“Oh, yes, Mike is going to be out at a friends and Brett has something with his team tomorrow so he’s staying at a friend’s house so he can get a lift through with them…” his mother pouted softly, as though already unhappy at the prospect that not only was she going to have to leave one son alone, the other two weren’t going to be around to keep him company.

A sensation not unlike the one where your stomach dropped on a ride at an amusement park began building in Ted’s stomach and he didn’t know whether he wanted to beg his mother to let him go across to the church to help out once the movie was over or whether he wanted to kiss her and thank her for the chance… not that she’d know what he was talking about.

Would he dare bring Cody into his home, alone?

It wasn’t unusual for his parents to be really quite late when they worked in the church, because they were both thorough people and they hated the prospect of leaving something with lacklustre effort or when they noticed something didn’t quite fit the way they were under the impression it should, so he would have time to bring the other in for a little while…

“Aren’t you hungry dear?”

The concern in his mother’s voice as he set his half-eaten sandwich back down barely registered with Ted, his tentative and yet eager mind flittering to and fro to numerous possibilities and scenarios that could happen between himself and Cody without his usual Fort Knox style parental supervision.

~::~

“What are you wearing?”

Evan couldn’t help it; he burst into laughter in the middle of his bedroom as he continued attempting to make a conscious effort to tidy up the mini bomb-site that had developed on his desk. His room was probably unusually clean by the standards of a teenage boy generally, but the desk was definitely the messiest part. When he had homework or projects he tended to get a little involved and just let sheets and workings-out pile up to ridiculous amounts… and then he wondered why he was finding homework sheets from months prior that he had ended up having to get repeats of because he’d lost them.

“Sadly, nothing too exciting.”

From his place outside of the food-court in a quieter recess of the mall Punk chuckled, “Come on Ev, play the game; this is where we’re supposed to engage in some torrid phone sex.”

Evan’s cheeks coloured despite themselves even as he laughed again, setting his phone down on his windowsill behind his desk and placing it onto speaker-phone. When he caught notice of the residual background noise he arched a brow.

“Phone sex in a public place? Kinky.”

“You’re a sharp one. Is it too loud? Sorry; I broke away from the guys and came over here thinking it’d be quieter,” he laughed ruefully.

“You left your friends to talk to me?”

“Awful, I know, but you’re much more engaging they are. Everything they’ve said I’ve pretty much heard before, or can guess if I haven’t. Mike for example won’t shut up about Alex,” not the whole truth of the situation but it was enough, “And Cody is crowing about the fact that Ted finally took enough notice in him to accept his offer of a date. About time, by the way.”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Evan said dryly but with affection, “Ted turned around to us earlier and asked if we knew Cody liked him!”

Punk snorted slightly and shook his head in amusement, “Seriously?”

“I wish I was kidding.”

“Huh, go figure… But, I didn’t actually call you to talk about our friends.”

“No,” Evan quipped, placing some papers into the appropriate folder once he’d sorted them from the masses and masses of coloured sheets that littered the deceptively large space of his desk, “You called me for phone sex,” he teased.

“That too, but hearing your sexy voice distracted my priorities.”

Evan blushed, “I don’t have a sexy voice.”

“That’s what you think. But, seriously, honest question: are you free tonight?”

“I could be,” Evan said, not deliberately attempting to hedge but he didn’t want to make Punk think that he was clingy and lacking in social activities because he was waiting for the chance to do things with him, “Depends on what you have in mind.”

“Nothing expensive I’m afraid, but still more pricey than the food-court,” he chuckled, seeing Mike getting up to place the rubbish in the bin as his friends all finally finished eating, flipping the other off when Mike mouthed and made an inappropriate gesture to him, “Fancy going out to eat somewhere?”

“That’d be nice… Same place as our first date?”

“They don’t serve food at the tattoo parlour Ev,” Punk teased and Evan rolled his eyes, lips quirking into a reluctant smile, “I didn’t mean there wise-ass and you know it.”

“If you want to go back there it’s cool.”

“That OK?”

“I hadn’t chosen anywhere and was gonna ask you where you wanted to go anyway.”

“Oh, OK. What time?”

“I’ll come pick you up around six-thirty? You don’t mind walking do you?”

Randy hadn’t been wrong in assuming his car privileges were still virtually non-existent and it wouldn’t be cool of him to turn up to Evan’s house and need to use the other’s car to drive him to the restaurant. On top of the lack of cool factor it literally was about a ten minute walk from Evan’s place so it would be pretty lazy to drive.

“That sounds great. Want me to dress up or down?”

“Preferably I’d like to be undressing you,” Punk said, both playful and deadly serious, “But I doubt we’d get far if that was the case so wear what you like.”

The restaurant was casual enough that t-shirt and jeans was acceptable, but also a little more up-market if you did want to get your glad-rags on.

“OK. So… Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“Like I said before… what’re you wearing?”

On his end of the phone line Punk grinned as he heard Evan’s melodic laughter filled his ears.

He was more whipped than he had ever thought he’d be over another person, but it was cool, because it was Evan and he already knew it would be so worth it.

~::~

Exhaling a breath John consulted the shopping list his mother had made before sending him off with it and dropped another item into the basket. He was already about halfway through but that didn’t mean he was particularly enjoying the task; he had never liked shopping much as it was (unless he was looking at gym stuff or cars) and when he was alone it was excruciatingly boring.

As John rounded a corner towards where toiletries were his eyes alighted on something that had his mind wandering back to the night before with a vengeance.

Lube.

Even though he had never been ashamed of his sexual orientation or who knew it, John had always found buying lubricant and condoms a little embarrassing. Randy had never seemed phased by it and, indeed, he had used to pass time when they were running shopping errands for their parents together by whispering what products he was going to use to do whatever he had in his mind to do to John.

Warming lube, or cherry flavoured, had always been Randy’s favourites…

John did a sharp about-face and started down another aisle; his mother’s shampoo could wait, he’d get in on the way to the check-out.

As he hit another aisle though he was surprised to find Randy, alone, with a basket in his hand too.

Immediately everything else seemed to fade into the background for John and he swallowed thickly, torn between approaching Randy and hiding in cowardice over his behaviour the night before. But, even with that embarrassment he still couldn’t get over his somewhat hurt and confused ego; why hadn’t Randy tried anything after everything he’d been doing prior to then, when the party and John being inebriated would probably have been excellent circumstances---

Just when did his opinion of Randy get so low?

Despite everything John didn’t like referring to Randy as a cheat and a liar, lacking in morals and scruples and whatever else he was supposed to possess to keep him being faithful to the partner he had. And he missed him, damn it he did, and the way Randy had been acting… it reminded him of the parts of Randy’s character that the bad-boy usually kept to well-hidden from people he didn’t know well, and that had added to John falling to him in the first place past the lust-at-first-sight they had both claimed to be feeling to start with.

He’d just go over and say hi, John thought to himself, there wasn’t anything wrong with that, and he did owe Randy another thanks for helping him out the night before…

He hadn’t quite forgotten about how strangely pissed he had become on so few beers either, but he had convinced himself it was just because he was being generally daring and hadn’t eaten all that much before heading off to the party.

“Hey Randy,” he hoped he sounded as casual as he felt, because when those hypnotic stormy blue eyes levelled on him John felt like he was being exposed, inside and out, caressed and torn about and made to feel as though every single thing he’d ever thought or felt was on display, “How come you’re alone and running errands about now?”

Randy looked almost rueful, “Well, I guess you could say I needed something to occupy my time,” since all of his inconsiderate friends had all gone off and got dates on the same night, leaving him solo.

~:~

John would have looked amused had they been just friends, or had they been dating – there was something about Randy that did not lend itself to the image of being domesticated. But he was still a little thrown from the night before and as such he managed not to comment on Randy with a basket filled with fruit and snacks. “Right,” he said vaguely, not entirely sure how he was going to make small talk but knowing he had at least one thing to say to the man. “Thanks. For last night.”

“You said this morning,” replied Randy. 

“Did I?” John shrugged. “I wasn't feeling so well this morning. I must have forgot.”

Randy gave a slight nod. “It was my pleasure anyway. I wouldn't want you to fall into Kelly's clutches after all. Girl's a creeping vine. Next thing you know, you'll be running all over town after her like Mike after Maryse.”

Too late he realised it was probably a bad analogy, given that Mike and Maryse were history and the ultimatum had come from Alex, who was one of John's friends, but John simply nodded as if he knew where Randy was coming from. “I don't think she's that bad.”

“Oh, she is, I--” Randy stopped himself from saying where he'd heard the rumour from – Kelly had casually dated an exchange student from their school, one Justin Gabriel, the very same boy that had cost Randy and John their relationship. “I heard on the grapevine,” he said quickly. 

John played with the handle of the basket, trying to distract himself. “Well, when you're too drunk to stand isn't the best time to get to know someone anyway.”

Randy looked at him sharply. “I thought you didn't want to get to know her.”

“She seemed like a relatively normal young woman.”

“Yeah? Maybe that's why you looked bored out of your tree.”

John raised his eyebrows. “You were watching me?” He was well aware that he was needling Randy now, saying the little things that he knew would get to the other. But he wasn't a saint either and he had been hurt, and now he was conflicted and confused. Taking it out on Randy, even in such a little way, didn't make him feel better exactly but it did at least make him feel vindicated when Randy behaved exactly as John already knew he would. It made him feel as if Randy refused to drop the past whenever they met up, whereas just recently Randy had been the one trying to get them over it and John was starting to deliberately re-open the wounds. 

“It wasn't hard to watch you. There were lots of people watching you, and her. And didn't she know it.”

John imagined what people had been saying at the party, watching him laying on the lounger with Kelly draped over him, Randy elsewhere in the house. How much they had called to him when he had gone staggering across the patio, that much he could remember for himself. And the pile of text messages that he hadn't answered, the phone on silent so he could pretend that there was no one trying to get hold of him to find out what had been going through his mind and what had happened with him and Randy and Kelly the night before. His shoulders sagged. “Damn. I hate being the centre of attention.”

“Negative attention at least.” Randy seemed to recall that when the two of them had announced their relationship, John didn't care who had known and had fought fiercely to ensure that everyone knew they were dating and it wasn't some game or prank. He had wanted to announce to everyone that he was with Randy and when it had all gone wrong, he hadn't wanted the same attention, he had wanted to lick his wounds in private and wasn't given the chance to. Had he been dating some girl from the local girls school then it would have been a two minute wonder, but the golden gay couple of the school were an entirely different matter. 

Randy shifted the basket from one hand to the other. “Has someone been getting at you over last night?”

“I don't know,” John confessed. “I haven't looked at any messages from anyone except Ted and the others.

“Uh-huh.” Randy put the basket on the floor at his feet. “Give me your phone.”

“What?”

“Your phone. I'll see who's been calling, tell you and then you'll be able to see it's not as bad as you're imagining.”

John stared, torn. Giving Randy his phone seemed like a very bad idea, letting him go through his private messages, seeing what people had to say. Then again, he didn't have much to hide and he didn't want to field the calls himself. Silently he put his own basket down, fished out his phone and handed it over. 

Randy scrolled through John's phone, not admitting that some of the calls and texts from the night before he'd already seen when he'd contacted John's parents through the device, although John would probably realise it had he been ready to put the pieces together. He started by listing John's missed calls, amounting to roughly three-quarters of their year group and a couple of friends from sports teams. There was also one from Kelly, but he didn't bother to mention her. Once that was done he went on to the texts, the same people and messages that fell into three categories, occasionally overlapping; What was with you and Kelly last night, are you and Randy an item again and wow, you were so drunk!

“Nothing malicious,” said Randy as he went through the latest ones. “Mostly just concern and questions about what you got up to. Nothing you can't handle. If it were me, I'd put something up on Facebook or Twitter saying you're just fine and that should stop most of the texts. Not that it'll stop the questions over where you spent the night. I can always add to something there if you like, saying that I took you straight home and the party was cut short for me.”

“It might help if you didn't mind--” John cut himself off as he noticed the change in Randy's face. The other was still looking at the phone and was clearly trying not to react, but John knew Randy too well. The sudden stoniness in his eyes, the tic in his jaw, the slight narrowing of those stormy blue eyes, all told him that Randy had seen something that pissed him off. It was exactly the same look John remembered when he had seen Randy looking at him and Kelly the night before, shortly before he had turned his head and looked away, not long before John had drunk the beer that had tipped him over the edge. 

“What's wrong?”

Randy blinked once or twice and John could see the way his mind was working, that he was wondering if he should tell a lie. The moment was over in a split-second but it had been there. “You have a date tonight,” said Randy harshly, thrusting the phone back at John. 

“Whuh?” John reached out and took the phone, reading the message with growing incredulity. It was from Kelly and John started growing alarmed as he went through it to find apparently he had agreed to them heading out that night, sometime while they were talking the night before. However, Kelly added, since John might still be a little delicate and because her parents were away for the weekend, she suggested that she would cook a meal and they could watch a film together. John had sudden images of hired caterers and rom-coms watched on the plasma screen – he seemed to recall that Kelly's favourite films had come up in conversation at one point and she had expressed a love of the kinds of films with misunderstandings and dizzy women and steady, reliable men wooing them rather clumsily. John had nodded politely and said he hadn't seen any of the ones that she had mentioned, Kelly had said that he would have to watch them with her one night and he had nodded vaguely. He was sure he hadn't agreed to a whole date filled with a bunch of films with the word love in the title. The only time he had agreed to that was when he had been with Randy and the words prison and hardcore had been in the title as well. 

“Have fun,” said Randy brusquely, grabbing his basket. 

“Randy!” John looked up, back to the phone and then shoved it back in his pocket. “I don't even remember agreeing to this.”

“A cozy date, just the two of you. In her parents house.” Randy shrugged, clearly upset. “I advise you to stock up on protection. She's not choosy. She's all about the status, same as all those bitches.”

John began to feel angry, his guilt over hurting Randy counteracted by his own thoughts; that Randy had done pretty much the same thing to him and they hadn't been split up then. “There's no reason why I can't go for dinner at her place. I'm single, she's single. Where's the harm?”

“And you look so excited,” snapped Randy. “You didn't know until I told you. Wish I'd kept my mouth shut. Well, I've got things to do as well. So I can't stay around here all day and make sure that no one sent you a nasty message.”

“You've got plans?”

“Yeah,” returned Randy. “Lots of plans. Better plans than your plans.”

“Right. Hanging out with friends?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Odd, because I know that Punk's out with Ev and Cody's got a date with Ted and Alex had a text from Mike to see if he was free tonight...”

“I have other friends.”

“Only the kind with benefits.”

“Hey, you're moving on with the Peroxide Princess. No reason I can't do the same thing.”

“I think you were moving on before we were even finished--” John stopped himself. Hadn't he just said that he hated being the centre of attention and he was here, having an argument with his ex over their new dates in the supermarket. Very embarrassing. He shook his head. “It's really none of your business who I see on a Saturday night. It's none of my business who you go out with. I'm through with this, I need to finish the shopping and go get ready. Thanks for last night, I'll see you at school Monday.”

He walked off, gripping his basket tightly and doing the first thing that came to his mind; going to the shampoo aisle and looking for the brand his mother had specified and then trying to find which of the many bottles was actually intended to smooth and straighten. Utter nonsense of course, shampoo was shampoo when one shaved their head as close as John did. He stared at the selection for a while, trying not to look down the aisle at where the lube was and re-enact those same thoughts that he'd had previously about the things he could have done with Randy the previous night. His mind wasn't on shampoo, it was on the idea that Kelly would be at home getting ready for Randy to go over, maybe cooking, maybe spending money on hiring a caterer – that she might just call in pizza wasn't even an option, he already knew that she would go all-out and he would feel bad if she went to all that trouble and he simply ignored the text, but he really didn't want to go over there. 

Or did he? That would teach Randy a lesson.

No. It wasn't fair to drag Kelly into this just so that he could show Randy that people were interested in him as a man. He had to nip this in the bud before it got any further.

Sighing, he pulled his phone out again and dialled Kelly's number, still looking at the shampoo bottles. When she answered she sounded both delighted and concerned. “John! Are you okay? I've been trying to get in touch with you!”

“I'm just fine--”

“Oh good! I was trying to get you to lie down and that animal Randy just pushed me away and ran off with you! I was so scared that he'd try something, some kind of... something....”

“He took me home and put me in the spare room. Nothing at all happened, he just got me out of the party before I made any more of a fool of myself.”

“Oh, good.” Kelly laughed a little. “Did you get my message? I'm going to be cooking seafood, do you like seafood?”

John did as it happened, but he didn't like the way that Kelly was making presumptions. “”Look, I can't come over tonight. I had plans already, I didn't realise that you intended for me to come over this evening.”

“I see.” Kelly's voice grew brittle. “Cancel them. Trust me, this will be worth it and lets face it, hanging out with your friends again isn't going to be anywhere near as much fun as coming over here will be.” She giggled girlishly. “I promise you. I know that last night didn't go according to plan but there's no one around to spoil things tonight.”

“Plan?” asked John blankly. “What plan?”

“Well, I don't mean plan.” Kelly giggled again. “I was hoping that last night would be the night that I persuaded you to come on a date with me and when you said you'd like to see my movies, I thought it would be as good a first date as any. And if nothing else, it would teach that awful ex of yours that you're off limits. I know that he's been bothering you--”

“He's not been--” John took a deep breath. “Look, I do appreciate the offer, I really do and you're a nice girl. But I'm not looking for anyone new right now. I don't want to lead you on and I have other things to do tonight so I just didn't want you to start making a big fuss for something I can't come to.”

Kelly was silent for a moment. “Don't you think that the best remedy to get past your ex would be to involve yourself in someone else? And you know, I'm not just anyone. You could do a lot worse.”

“I know I could, and like I said, you're a nice girl, very pretty.” John made himself stop, thinking that he was starting to sound patronising. “But why would you want to put yourself in for something like that? To be a stand-in for someone else, wouldn't that mean I was using you? I wouldn't want to do that.”

“John, you're a nice guy,” said Kelly warmly. “You don't even see that it's in your best interests to move on! And that your best bet of moving on would be with someone you just admitted that you admire and are attracted to!”

John blanked. Had he just admitted that? He'd thought he was just stroking her ego so she wouldn't be hurt about him not coming over. “I already made plans--”

“Yes, with me. So tell your friends you're busy, I'm sure they'll understand – you're the leader of your little group after--”

John didn't hear another word; the phone was plucked from his hands so fast he thought he had dropped it and looked at the floor before turning around. Once he would have been so attuned to Randy's presence he could sense when the other had walked into a room even when he couldn't see the other teen, this time Randy had walked up behind him without him even seeing and apparently had been standing there a while, listening. 

“He said he's busy Kelly. Take the hint.” Randy spoke into the phone, listened a moment and then chuckled. “Yeah, it's me. How did you know? Now here's the deal. John has plans and because he's a lot nicer than me, he didn't want to make you feel bad by telling you he'd rather stick a pen in his eye than be in a room alone with you, especially if it involves watching Pretty Woman. It sounds like some cruel and unusual torture to me as well, to be honest. Me, I'm not nice and I'm telling you how it is; John does not want to go to your house tonight, he doesn't want to be alone with you and he has other plans which he'd rather not cancel. So go harass some other poor shmuck, because this one isn't interested. Go away. Get lost. Take your romantic evening and stick it straight up your ass. Have you gotten the message yet?”

John gaped at the phone and then tried to snatch it back, Randy turning so that he couldn't. “You have a lovely evening Kelly. Bye!” He handed the phone back to John with a smirk. “You have to be firm with these people, otherwise they walk all over you.”

“Why did you do that?” John made as if to call Kelly back, hesitated. If he called back now, Kelly would insist on the date and John really didn't want to go but would feel obligated after that display. “She'll think I'm a real jerk!” Another thought struck him suddenly. “And now she'll think that I'm doing something with you! She'll think we're out somewhere together!”

“We are.”

“We're not out together, we're just in the same place at the same time.” John scowled. “You had no right.”

“No, I didn't. But I heard how that was going and you were about to give up and go put yourself through hell. It's just another service I offer. No need to thank me.”

“But you lied to her.”

“So did you. You've no other plans this evening.”

“I might have for all you know.”

“No, because you made it very clear that all your friends are out dating all my friends.”

“I have other friends.”

“With benefits?”

John sighed, not liking his own words thrown back at him. “What were you doing following me?”

“I needed some stuff from this aisle,” said Randy casually. “Since I'm spending the night alone, on the bed that still smells like you, I thought I might spend some time with my best friend with benefits.” He raised his right hand and wiggled the fingers, smirking as John turned fire-engine red at the implication. “You were here trying to get out of a date, I came over to help you out, since you were struggling. I wasn't following you, you were already here.”

“Well...” John tried to recover. “Other plans doesn't necessarily mean with friends. I have homework.”

“It's a none-stop party with you.” Randy looked thoughtful. “You seemed a little worried about lying to Kelly. How about we don't lie to her?”

“What?”

“Why don't you let me buy you dinner somewhere? Something greasy, I know how a hangover works and you'll be needing something a bit more substantial in an hour or so. I bet you ate nothing but soup, right?”

John nodded. 

“Well, I'll take you home with your shopping, buy you dinner, maybe we can watch a film or I can take you straight home if you prefer.” Randy tilted his head a little. “I won't be offended if you say no. But with a meal and an audience, we might actually be able to talk instead of sniping at each other all the time.”

“No,” said John immediately. He didn't want to hear more of Randy dismissing the fling with Justin as unimportant and he certainly didn't want any of the details. He knew he should probably keep Randy at a distance anyway. 

Randy nodded. “How about this. I promise that if you have anything to say to me, I won't interrupt you. I won't force you to stay if you want to leave. And I'll answer everything with the absolute truth.”

“You already told me the truth. Eventually.” John shook his head. “No, no way. I already listened and heard you dismiss everything like it meant nothing at all. You're never going to see things how I do and I don't think going over it again is gonna help things change.”

“I don't know about that.” Randy gave a slight smile. “My perspective changed quite a bit these last few weeks. I had the chance to think about things a little deeper. And to come to some new conclusions. And if I start being dismissive, or arrogant, you can empty a bottle of wine over my head, how about that?” 

John managed a smile. “I'm tempted, just so that I can do it. You couldn't help being arrogant if you tried.”

“Well then, say yes.”

It was a horrible idea and John already knew it. But Randy genuinely did seem to have changed his behaviour and point of view over the last few weeks and John missed him. He didn't want to, he wanted to move on and leave Randy behind, but every time he thought about dating Kelly, or anyone else for that matter, he just wanted to go and hide. Yet letting Randy back into his life was setting himself up for a fall. John firmly believed that once a person had proved themselves a cheater, there was no going back, they would not change. 

“Yes.”

Randy beamed with genuine happiness and John was suddenly very glad that he had agreed, if only to see that look. “Great! Finish your shopping, I'll take you back and we'll go eat. And maybe we can uh, get through this whole thing?”

“Don't get your hopes up Randy,” warned John. “I don't promise you a thing. This doesn't mean we'll get back together. This is just me getting some closure.” 

“I know,” said Randy lightly, but there was no removing the smile from his face.

~:~

Kelly slammed the phone down on the counter, cracking the casing. She had been so close to getting John over to the house – and now she had the ingredients to an awesome meal, an awesome night. And no date. Thanks to Randy fucking Orton. 

She kicked the cupboard and glared at the swordfish pieces, as if they were personally responsible for all the stress she was under. It was embarrassing, a Saturday night with no plans and she should have been seducing John – she had been shopping since early on, finding just the right outfit, the right underwear. She'd had a mani-pedi and found the right shoes just in case, even though she had been planning on wandering the house barefoot in order to look just that little bit more natural. And so perhaps she could go for a little footsie along with the swordfish salad of course. 

Her mind wandered to the chocolate dessert she had bought, how she had envisioned them perhaps sharing it over the films – it was gooey enough that it might be hard to keep on the spoon and an artfully spilled bit of chocolate might just have been the thing to attract attention to other body parts, or even to have John's tongue on her skin. Now she was tempted to curl up in a corner and eat the lot herself, to hell with her hips. The panicked part that weighed in every morning and ate chocolate maybe three times a year shouted in horror but her shame and upset might have won out if the phone hadn't chosen that moment to ring. 

It was Layla and she was pissed. Kelly listened rather blankly as she went into a tirade about jeans, Melina and Ted that Kelly barely paid attention to. All she could work out was that apparently things hadn't gone Layla's way either. 

“You wanna come over here?” she asked suddenly. “My parents are out and I'm making a salad. We can have a girls night, talk properly. Maybe help one another out.”

“That sounds great,” said Layla with a sigh. “I really thought I'd have a date with Ted tonight.”

“You and me both,” said Kelly grimly. “Although not with Ted obviously.”

“Huh?”

“I'll tell you all about it when you get here.” 

“Oh, did you hear the latest?” Layla suddenly brightened up. “Maryse is furious. Her BF wasn't at the party, you notice that? Turns out he was having an intimate little dinner with another boy!”

“Wow.” Maryse always had outside relationships but Mike was always a staple of her life and they all knew that she intended to keep it that way. “Not just sex?”

“I'm not sure, she's dying to find out what happened and why he blew her off for this man. She's making out like she doesn't care much but she's livid and she can't hide it.” Layla laughed rather cruelly. “I saw the picture and you know how Randy Orton blew up a few weeks ago because John was seeing some other boy? I think that fizzled out, I'm not sure. But it's him that Mike was out with.”

“Really?” Kelly raised her eyebrows (waxed that morning) and tapped her nails against the counter. “Hmm. Those two circles of friends really seem to be either resisting us or screwing us over.” She was quiet a moment. “Maybe I'll ask another couple of girls over. That okay with you?”

“No problem,” said Layla with fake nonchalance. “Maybe someone else will know something I can use to get Ted on my side.”

“Some in with his parents would be your best bet, I think,” said Kelly. “But we'll discuss it tonight. See you later.”

She ended the call, looking irritably at her phone. She didn't want to go out now and no one delivered on a Sunday, she'd either have to go out and get a new one or else wait until after school on Monday. Damn, and she wasn't going to school with a cracked phone. Shopping tomorrow it was. Putting it out of her mind, she scrolled through the names until she found Maryse. Maryse had always been a bit wild for her liking but they were friends, after a fashion. And one thing that she'd learned was that a friend was anyone who could help you out. Once help had been got, then they could go back to nodding acquaintances.”

Maryse answered the phone dismissively, almost rudely and Kelly rolled her eyes. “Maryse, I'm having a few girls over to my house tonight, and I think you should come.”

“What are you talking about?”

“There's a lot of talk going around about certain behaviours at the boys school and who's involved and Mike seems to be a part of it. If you really want to bring him to heel, then it might be an idea to have all the ammunition you can get.”

There was a pause and then Maryse spoke. “Oui, fine. What are we eating?”

Kelly rolled her eyes, this girl was picky and just a touch too precious. “Swordfish salad.”

“Then I shall bring a good white wine to go wiz it, I assume you would not 'ave any. I shall be there at eight.” Maryse hung up without a farewell and Kelly growled to herself. Arrogant didn't even begin to describe it but she might be of some help. In the meantime she intended to go on line and find what the best wines to go with swordfish were, go out and buy some – and she silently vowed that none of them would be French.

~::~

Ted exhaled a breath as he glanced at the clock; if he set off now, then he would be a pit too punctual to pick Cody up but at the same time he didn’t want to turn up late… that wouldn’t create the right impression, and he knew already that Cody was somewhat concerned about his feelings. Not that Ted blamed him; he wasn’t exactly blaring his homosexuality from the rooftops with a megaphone, and he had apparently been oblivious to Cody’s feelings for as long as he had been fighting his own.

“You have fun tonight dear,” his mother smiled as she crossed to him in the living-room, pecking him on the cheek before pulling back to size him up, making Ted suddenly feel somewhat self-conscious, wondering whether his casual jeans/polo-shirt/light jumper combination was maybe a little bit too dressy.

He wouldn’t admit to anyone that he had actually gone back and forth on his dress choice for over an hour when he had been attempting to do some English homework to pass the time.

“Do I pass?” Ted asked, hoping he sounded as jokey as he felt.

His mother chuckled and squeezed his shoulders lightly, “You always look gorgeous dear, you know that.”

“You’re supposed to say that,” Ted pointed out, relief spreading through him at his mother’s approval, “You’re my mum.”

“Looking good son,” Ted Sr. entered the room to hand his wife her coat, already having placed his own on. He arched a brow and then grinned at Ted in what the blonde supposed was meant to be a rather playful and conspiratorial way, “Anyone special?”

If only you knew, dad…

“Just a friend,” Ted hastened to assure as he tried to quash the uncomfortable feeling prickling the back of his neck as he took stock of the fact that his father was obviously hoping that he was off on some outing with a girl. Apparently he hadn’t spoken to Ted’s mother about the fact earlier in the day, but considering the fact that the man hadn’t gotten in from the church until tea-time that was probably unsurprising.

“Oh,” Sr. didn’t quite mask his disappointment well enough, leading to Ted’s mother elbowing him in the ribs lightly, “Well, have fun. Don’t stay out too late.”

“I won’t.”

“Feel free to have your friend come in for a while if your film finished early, OK?”

Ted quirked a small smile, “Ma, I can manage being alone for a few hours until you get back.”

“I’m just saying,” she waved a hand at him as she started towards the front door with his father, “We’ll see you later, don’t stay up too late.”

“School tomorrow,” Sr. reminded, as though Ted wasn’t already feeling a little bit of the Sunday-night-Monday-morning-impending blues.

“We’re just going to see the film, dad, I won’t be out long.”

Sr. seemed reassured by this and so nodded, reminding Ted to lock up after himself before he too left. A few minutes later Ted heard the family car pulling out of the drive and heading off.

Glancing at the clock Ted finally gave in; he couldn’t wait in the house much longer or he was going to go insane.

Grabbing his own car keys from the row of hooks in the kitchen Ted then clicked off the lights in the kitchen and the living-room before then heading out of the front door. Locking up behind himself he then headed to where his Mercedes sat. Typically Ted didn’t like flaunting his family’s wealth about (something he knew some people couldn’t quite understand) but he had to admit his Mercedes was his baby. By standards the car was probably considered out-of-date in model almost since he’d had it since he’d passed his driving-test but Ted didn’t care; he loved the car and since it still ran great he had no intention of getting rid of it.

Maybe he was also rather drawn to it because the interior of the vehicle had played in to quite a few of his fantasies regarding Cody, when he had dared let the images really take root and grow that was.

Almost the moment he turned the key in the ignition the engine purred to life and Ted smiled, patting the steering-wheel lightly with his right hand as he started to reverse out of his place on the drive. Mike’s car was missing and Brett wasn’t yet in possession of his own (OK, maybe they were a little frivolous with their wealth as others were) so he’d undoubtedly gone straight over to his friend’s house on foot that day or got a lift through with Mike when the oldest brother had left.

When Ted arrived outside of Cody’s home he was surprised to see the boy in question standing on the doorstep with a woman with long blonde hair. For a terrifying moment Ted completely believed that Cody was with Kelly for some reason (despite having heard quite fervent reports that Cody had never dated a girl in his life) before he took stock of the blonde figure. Dressed in a leather cat-suit (and wasn’t that bold?) she cut an impressively tall and broad-shouldered---

Broad-shouldered?

Ted was sure he was beacon-red with embarrassment and disbelief when he realised that the person had to be Cody’s brother, and not his sister. Cody had a cross-dressing brother. Ted had no idea what to make of this.

Oblivious to the fact that Ted was currently having a conniption there inside of the car Cody merely waved excitedly to him before then leaning up and saying something into the ear of the effeminately dressed man. He said something back with a smirk that had Cody blushing and slapping his arm lightly before he moved away from the doorstep and towards the car.

Ted was sure he was gaping without meaning to as Cody’s brother headed the other way down the street, apparently completely at ease and completely unconcerned about his appearance, vanishing into the darkness several seconds later.

~::~

“Did you tell your parents we were on a study-date again?”

“I was tempted… I just told them we were hanging out.”

When Evan arched a brow at Punk over his menu the ravenette held his hands up in surrender, “OK! I might have insinuated that you were going to look over my latest Spanish assignment to tell me if there were any glaring errors I needed to rectify.”

“I thought you weren’t grounded?” Evan wasn’t sure whether to be amused or concerned about the fact that Punk was lying to his parents about him. More than he had been previously, and technically speaking their study-dates hadn’t entirely been lacking in study.

“I’m not grounded, but it doesn’t hurt to butter up their beliefs and get them onside does it?”

“Spoken like a true politician.”

Punk pretended to point the straw to his Pepsi at Evan in a reprimanding fashion, “How dare you? I should take you over my knee for that comment.”

Evan quipped back, “How do you know I wouldn’t like that?”

It had been meant as nothing more than banter but the fraction of a shade of dark interest that had appeared in Punk’s eyes made Evan uncomfortably aware that the restaurant wasn’t all that full and they were relatively shielded spot in their booth…

Snap out of it Evan!

He supposed he couldn’t blame his hormones too much; the snogging session he and Punk had had during JoMo’s party had been something he’d been revisiting in his mind over and over since the actual event. It had led his mind to considering other things of that nature, though notably lacking in clothing… He had no idea, really, what it would go like, because Punk was so contradictory in his behaviour that it was difficult to pin him down for anything.

“I’ll remember that.”

“Please don’t.”

“Ah, ah, ah, can’t call it back now!”

“You’re so mean to me.”

“Treat ‘em mean to keep ‘em keen.”

“Them?” Evan arched a brow and Punk stuck out his pierced tongue, 

“Don’t even try it Bourne. You know you’re the only one I’m interested in.”

Their conversation was paused momentarily as the waitress arrived, smiling and doing a bit of bog-standard casual flirting with the pair of them without being in any way serious as she took Punk’s order of Lasagne and chips with a side salad, Evan deciding to get a burger and some fries, also with a side-salad, as well as refills for their drinks.

Draining the last of his own Sprite, Evan then cleared his throat softly before murmuring, “You know, I heard I’m not the only person interested in you—”

“If you say Alex Riley likes me or something—”

Immediately Evan burst into laughter and quickly smothered himself with his hand, Punk looking to him with both surprise and amusement, “Should I be offended you find it so funny?”

“It’s not… Just trust me, I wasn’t going to say that.”

“So who does like me then?” Punk asked, though honestly he wasn’t all that bothered; as long as he had Evan’s attention then that was all that mattered. Since becoming infatuated with Evan, Punk had come to take note of a lot of the things Randy had obviously been through with John--- the positive side of course, because he and Evan had yet (touch wood) to have any kind of row together.

“AJ.”

Coughing on the last of the Pepsi in his glass that he’d been drinking Punk looked at Evan in disbelief, “You mean that crazy wannabe punk chick?”

“Don’t call her names, Punk,” but even as he was reprimanding him Evan’s own lips quirked into a slight smile, “But, no, I wasn’t really serious about AJ.”

By all counts AJ was possibly one of the newest girls in their sister school, living just on the outskirts of town. Evan had actually come across her once or twice and she seemed nice enough, but there were all kinds of rumours circulating about the fact that she had had to leave her last school because she had had some kind of nervous breakdown.

“Not AJ?” Punk looked genuinely confused, “So who is it?”

“Sabrina?”

“Sabrina… wait a minute, you mean the bald girl who has that big bruiser of a brother who’s like religiously fanatic? Those two?”

“I don’t really know the details but, yeah, I think that’s her brother you mentioned.”

“Aw man… Evan, you should probably just marry me now and have done with it.”

Evan almost knocked over his new drink in surprise, “Say what?”

“Well, if I’m only gonna get my face smashed in by some meat-head when I turn down his sister we should just get married now whilst I look good for the photos.”

Evan threw a balled-up napkin across at him.

~::~

“You broke up with your girlfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“Not by text?”

“No, in person.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Alex looked across at Mike in some disbelief; although he hadn’t believed that Mike would jerk him along he had been led to believe that there was something more to the twisted relationship the pair of them had keeping them together.

“See, if your mouth’s open like that and you’re not on your knees first I can’t really make use of the situation--- kidding, Alex, kidding.”

Shaking himself somewhat Alex exhaled a breath and then suddenly smiled, and that smile took all thoughts about teasing and repercussions from his parents’ right out of his head. All that mattered was that he was the one to bring forth such an expression on Alex’s face.

“You’re really single?”

“Well,” Mike toyed with the rim of his fedora where he leant against the counter in Alex’s kitchen, “I was kinda hoping that that wouldn’t be the case for long.”

For a moment Alex looked startled and Mike was afraid he was going to have to go into the awkward explanations of why that was a good thing and not a bad thing, but mercifully Alex’s face relaxed again and he looked almost shy.

“You sure don’t waste any time do you?” he asked a little incredulously.

“Why would I?” Mike asked, spreading his hands, “Hesitating would mean that I’m not sure, and you can bet that I’m totally sure about the person I want to be with.”

Dammit, Alex shouldn’t have been as affected by those lines as he was being.

“Don’t you think a little period of time would be good? I mean… I don’t wanna be seen as a home-wrecker,” little did he knew that was exactly what Maryse at least would paint him out to be. Most of the other gossips would just be weighing the benefits of dating Mike against the benefits of dating John and assessing (on their opinion of things) which would be better.

“Alex, you’re no home-wrecker,” Mike insisted vehemently, and then sighed, pouting a little, “I guess if you want to wait a couple of days I can.”

“A week.”

“Three days.”

“Five days.”

They went back and forth for a while before Mike finally acquiesced that he would wait five days.

“You damn well better say yes to me after making me wait like this.”

“I might say no now just to wind you up.”

“You don’t wanna do that,” Mike smirked, “I’ve been told my tantrums are certainly nothing to sneeze at.”

Alex chuckled slightly and opened a drawer next to Mike, “You sure you’re OK with staying in? We could go out to eat…” he pulled out a few takeout menus and handed them over to Mike. Immediately the brunette selected a Chinese menu and then flipped it open.

“I’m really Ok with it,” Mike assured.

He didn’t fancy being caught in any aftermath from Maryse should she find him in one of his usual haunts (and if she was so inclined then oh boy would she find him, but in Alex’s home she couldn’t because she wouldn’t know where it is), as well as wanting to avoid the gossips lingering around nursing their hangovers and pre-returning to school blues. But, on top of all that, he mostly wanted to avoid running into their friends or indeed anyone else; he just wanted to keep Alex all to himself now he was a free agent and could express himself to the other without fear of being rebuked because of the annoying French baggage that he’d been dragging behind him for years now.

“Oh, OK then. Order what you like, I’ll pay.”

“You paid last time.”

“But this is my house.”

“No sale hombre; it’s my turn to pay and so I’m gonna pay. Is it cool we hang here by the way? Won’t your dad be back?”

Alex snorted harshly, then looking embarrassed when Mike looked startled, hastening to explain, “My dad’s away for the next two weeks. Something to do with work.” He didn’t mention and honestly Alex didn’t talk to his dad enough to inquire. On the rare occasions he did he was fobbed off with some generic answer anyway.

“So, you’re here alone for the next two weeks? Man, that must be amazing…”

~::~

“This is outta the way isn’t it?”

“Is it? I didn’t notice.”

John quirked a slight smile and shook his head somewhat; he didn’t think it was too much of a coincidence that Randy had decided to take them both to a diner outside of the city limits as opposed to popular one that they would have gone to when they had been dating, or uncaring about running into certain people…

“Totally accidental right?”

“Hey, I’ve heard good things about this place, don’t be ungrateful.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it…”

Randy parked his car and the pair exited, heading inside the surprisingly busy place and taking a seat at a table in a corner. A middle-aged man clad in a simple shirt and jeans combo approached them, notepad in hand and a small apron tied haphazardly around his waist, “Can I get you boys’ drinks?” if he thought there was anything odd about two young men dining there he didn’t say anything or even so much as twitch to indicate an issue.

“Two diet Cokes please.”

The man nodded, jotted something down on his notepad and then said, “I’ll bring them over and then get your order OK?”

As he padded off John looked to Randy and then tilted his head, “So… Since I dunno if wine’s on offer here does that mean I can empty a pitcher of water over your head instead?”

“I guess that counts… I mean, as long as something ends up all over me to make me look a fool you’d be satisfied right?”

Oddly enough John doubted the satisfaction would be as great as he would like it to be in the wake of such an eventuality.

“Guess so.”

They flipped open their menus and Randy decided on the Carbonara pasta with a portion of chips, John also selecting a pasta dish (Spaghetti Bolognese) but with a portion or garlic bread to accompany it. Randy looked somewhat amused by the choice as the waiter headed off, absently stirring his straw in his Coke.

“You know, eating garlic won’t make me want to kiss you any less.”

“What?” John startled slightly.

“The garlic,” Randy repeated simply as though they were merely having a conversation about the weather, “It doesn’t make me want to kiss you any less.”

“Randy…” John looked down at his hands embarrassedly, “Don’t say things like that.”

“Why? It’s the truth; and I said I would tell you the truth about anything tonight.”

“You also said you’d listen to me.”

“And I will when you tell me something.”

John sighed slightly and took a sip of his own Coke, absently glancing around at the other diners in the restaurant. He didn’t recognise anyone and no one seemed to recognise them, something that John considered a blessing after how much attention he had been receiving since his break-up with Randy.

“Last night—“John started, and for a moment Randy looked fondly exasperated.

“What about last night, John?” he didn’t know what more he could say to explain what had happened more than he’d already told; nothing had happened, he’d just rescued John from making an ass of himself and taken him home. Of course he was technically responsible for John being so wankered that he would have made an ass of himself in the first place but he didn’t need to be quite that honest with him.

John’s cheeks started to go red and Randy arched a brow; as a rule John was typically unflappable but when you knew what sort of buttons pressed it was easy to rile him, and right then he had the same sort of awkward and shy look on his face that he had had when Randy had first suggested that he wanted to suck him off back when they had first been going out.

“… We kissed. Right?”

Oh please Lord don’t let that have just been some figment of his own messed-up imagination that was now going to lead Randy on.

“We did. Sort of.” He sighed, “You were drunk, yeah? You said you wished we hadn’t broken up, I agreed, you kissed me, but I stopped you.”

“But why?” John blurted.

Randy looked at him in a manner that was almost sad, “Because I never took advantage of you before or during us being together, and doing so when I’m trying to win you back would hardly make me endearing to you would it?”

John was so astounded by that mature analysis that he fell into rare silence.

Maybe he had misjudged how much Randy had changed thanks to their break-up because of the fact that up until recently Randy had been acting like a prize jackass.

“You--- you sure are investing a lot in something that may not even work.”

“Isn’t that the point, John-John?”

~:~

John wondered how he should react to that, wasn't it the story of everyone's life? In the end he decided to sidestep the question altogether, toying with a napkin and wondering if he should wait for the food before they started talking or if he should try to get it out of the way and risk losing his appetite. Well – this might be the only chance he had to get everything out in the open and decide if what had happened was just too much for him to handle or if there was some way to get back from it. Whenever Randy tried to get back with him, all John could see was the spectre of Justin in the background... him and the memories of everyone in school whispering and pointing and occasionally asking him outright about the most painful time of his whole life. 

He took a deep breath. “What happened with you two?”

Randy paused, not having to ask who you two referred to. “I already told you.”

“Actually, you didn't.” John picked up his drink and swirled the liquid around the glass. “You denied it 'til you were blue in the face and then when you did admit it, you just shrugged and said it was nothing. You didn't tell me much of anything.”

Randy frowned. “Are you sure you want to hear about it?”

“I'm sure. Tell me everything and then I can stop imagining the worst.”

Randy tapped his fingers on the tabletop, thinking. “Well. You know how Justin would hang out with us sometimes? He was leaving pretty soon, heading on to England and we had the party...”

“It was before the party.”

“I know, I'm getting to it. Maryse offered to host it, any excuse for that girl, we all went over there one night – you were out with Ted and Evan somewhere. We were over there, Mike stayed, Punk got annoyed that we were all drinking a little too much and he left. Cody ended up walking back with the three of us, his place is on the way and Justin said he'd get a cab from my place. We decided to hang out a little more before he did and one thing just led to another.”

John nodded, his lips pressed in a tight line. “Did you think of me at all?”

Randy hesitated. “I did, but – should I be honest?”

“Please do.”

“I was – well. Justin started flirting pretty heavily with me and it was fun. There's been something before that but until he knew he was leaving he didn't actually do anything. But a few drinks and he was questioning why you were out with your friends instead of with me, kinda sly y'know? And after a while I was thinking that yeah, you'd run off and left me and he was there.”

“Run off and--”

“I didn't say I was right!” said Randy with barely controlled anger, focused at himself. “But it was an idea that wouldn't leave me be, not after a couple of beers and with Justin talking dirty and making suggestions. It was uh, a bit like an excuse if you know what I mean?”

“If I hadn't found out, would you have told me?”

“Hell no,” said Randy immediately. “It meant nothing and it was something stupid that happened. I was ashamed and thought if I could forget it, then it never happened.” He sighed. “I didn't know that Justin would say anything. I'm still not sure that he would have done if he hadn't let it slip at the party we held for him leaving. Drink loosens the tongue I guess.”

John nodded, giving none of his emotion away. “So you wouldn't have told me and it meant nothing, that's what you say? How far did it go between you two?” When Randy didn't answer he continued relentlessly. “I know something happened but I've heard all sorts and you never told me. Did he blow you? Did you blow him? Did you fuck?”

The ugly words weren't at all like John and made Randy wince. “He blew me and I jerked him off. No sex.”

“Good, was it?”

“It was...” Randy shrugged. “Different. Nothing like being with you. And the moment it was done with, I couldn't believe that I'd done it. I couldn't believe that I'd put everything in danger and I just wanted to pretend it hadn't happened, no one would ever know because Justin was leaving and I wasn't about to say anything. And it wasn't even worth it. Nothing ever is, no one's like you.”

“Not even all the other people that you've been with since we broke up?”

Randy held his hands up. “You can't hold them against me, if we weren't together. But – well, it was like saying that I could get by without you, I had options and just because you didn't want me didn't mean that no one else would. But that wasn't even the point, because I didn't want them. I only wanted you and you made it clear that I'd never get you back.”

“So you're saying that was an ego thing?”

“Yeah, I guess. I was hurt and before you laugh at that, I know that I probably didn't seem to compare to how hurt you were.”

“Damn right! You betrayed me and now you're what, blaming it on beer?” John took a swig of his drink to stop himself from getting even angrier and raising his voice. 

“Not blaming, that's the wrong word. But those were the circumstances and that's what happened.” Randy sighed, looking woebegone. “I don't like rehashing all of this. Can we leave it be?”

“You promised,” said John more calmly than he felt. “You said you'd answer anything I asked honestly.”

“And I have! Anything else is just torturing us both.”

John nodded, saved from answering as their meals arrived. He supposed his urge to dump the spaghetti over Randy's head should have grown hearing the details but oddly enough he rather respected his ex for his honesty. They ate in silence for a few minutes before John stopped to speak again. “If you'd told me this in the first place and we could have done some damage control, then perhaps there might have been more hope. It's not just the thing with Justin, that's bad enough, it's the embarrassment. Everyone knows about it and how do you think that makes me feel?”

Randy swallowed his mouthful and nodded. “I'm sorry. And I know. But tomorrow, do you think that they'll be talking about that? I think there's gonna be talk about us but people talk like that all the time. And there's nothing I can do to take it back, I denied it as much as I could at the time. But does it matter what people say or believe? Hell, if you were to take me back, it'd make it look more like I didn't do anything with Justin, right?”

John shook his head. “I really don't know Randy. I don't know if I could ever trust you again, if I could let you go out with your friends without following you and checking on you – and I don't want to be that guy that doesn't trust anyone.” He pushed his spaghetti around the plate with his garlic bread. “I really don't know if I can take you back.”

“But at least you're thinking about it.” Randy smiled, fixing John with the same gaze that had captivated the man the first time around. “And I will earn your trust again, no matter what I have to do to get it. I'll prove to you that I'm worth it John, I promise you that much."


	7. Chapter Six: Dirty Tactics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maryse and the girls make plans to dig deeper into finding a means to end their rivals getting in their way. Punk discovers some interesting facts about Evan, whilst Mike and Alex talk a little about their home-lives. Randy and John enjoy a movie and Ted and Cody end their evening with chicken and a brief-encounter with the DiBiase parents.

Cody was clearly pleased to be there but Ted was a little thrown by what he had seen and found making small talk a little stilted. Cody seemed to sense it and fell a little quiet as they approached the cinema. When Ted pulled into a free space, he unhooked his seatbelt and took Ted rather by surprise when he took hold of the blonde's hand. 

“Is there something wrong?” he asked, a little hesitantly. “Have you uh, changed your mind about being out with me?”

“No!” Ted's eyes widened a little as he wondered why Cody might have gotten that idea. “I've been looking forward to it.”

“Good.” Cody laughed. “It's just, you've been quiet since you picked me up.”

“It's nothing to do with you at all.” Ted frowned a little. “It was just your uh, brother, he kinda surprised me.”

“Dustin?” Cody laughed. “I should have mentioned him, I'm really sorry. I forgot you wouldn't know about his uh, his clothing preferences. I'm sure it must have given you a shock but he's him and I'm me and him dressing as a woman--”

“A loose woman,” agreed Ted solemnly and Cody broke out laughing. 

“I'll tell him you said that,” he said once he was able. “Him dressing as a woman has nothing to do with me. That's not who I am, it's not what I like to do. And he's a nice guy. You don't have to think that we're some uh, deviant family.”

“You really think I'd think that?” Ted looked a little shocked. “I don't think that. It's just... I've never seen a real transvestite before. I'm a bit taken aback.”

“It's fine,” said Cody. But he's not a transvestite. He's a cross-dresser.”

“What's the difference?”

“The difference is missing the start of the film or not doing.” Cody glanced at his watch. “I don't normally do the ice cream and chocolate thing but I'd like to treat you, if you insist on paying for the movie.” Ted immediately started to protest and Cody raised his hands. “That's the deal Ted. And you have to have popcorn.”

“I'm supposed to be watching my weight.”

Ted hadn't meant to admit that but Cody, always concerned about his appearance, didn't even blink. “Have a night off. Anyway, you play sports and that should burn it off. You work hard enough... I've seen.”

Ted blushed a little. “I thought you were doing homework when you were hanging around the field.”

“Nah. Who could concentrate on books when you're wearing those tiny shorts?” Cody grinned. “You should try dressing like that more often.”

“I think I'd get arrested for indecency,” said Ted, but he was smiling. “Let's go watch this film.”

He let himself out and then went around the car to let Cody out, much to the other boys surprise. It wasn't often that he had been on the receiving end of chivalry and he liked it more than he let on. Smiling, he took Ted's hand as they went toward the building and it was Ted's turn to be pleasantly surprised, thinking about the empty house waiting for him – and for Cody, if he became bold enough to ask.

~:~

Maryse was a pain in the ass, Kelly decided within minutes of the girl being there. She and Layla had elected to dress down a little but it seemed that Maryse didn't know the meaning of the word and on top of that, she had brought enough drink to knock them all unconscious. Kelly knew that Maryse was something of a party girl but she had to admit, she was a little surprised. She poured them wine and doled out the salad that she should have been eating with John, the three of them sitting in the living room to eat. 

Maryse took all of three bites before she wanted to know why she was there, what it was that Kelly thought she could do about this strangeness that had overtaken Mike. Kelly sighed. She should have known that it wasn't going to be straightforward. 

“We need to insinuate ourselves into their group if any of us are to get who we want,” she said bluntly. “You want Mike back and frankly, if Mike's got issues then his friends will probably gather around him and not have time for the people they're supposed to be with. That gives Layla and I some time.”

Maryse rolled her eyes, drawing her legs up beneath her. “Mike and I together again will 'elp you, then you will 'ave to come up with an actual plan.”

“This Alex,” said Layla unexpectedly. “What do we know about him? He seemed to move here, have some thing with John, move onto Mike – but he only just started here. He must have been to school somewhere else before.”

“Oui,” said Maryse, sitting up a little straighter. “We should be able to google him.”

“And if we can find his school, we can do a little more digging.” Kelly smiled. “We might be able to speak to some people he used to know and perhaps find out what made him leave. If it really was relocation or if there was something else going on there. If he left someone behind who thinks he's coming back, any scandals.”

Layla raised her eyebrows. “And if we can't find anything incriminating?”

“Then we should be able to create something,” said Maryse determinedly.

“Maryse.” Kelly fixed her with an icy stare. “If we help you do this, you have to help us out as well, should we need it.”

“I will 'elp,” said Maryse disinterestedly. “On the condition that Mike and I get back together. Otherwise, what is the point?”

Layla gave her a curious look. “Why do you care so much about being with Mike? You're never faithful to him anyway.”

“I would 'ave a good life if Mike would be my husband,” said Maryse, tossing her hair back. “I am thinking of my future. If he is planning to throw that away because of some thing with a pretty face, he is a fool. And I will not let him ruin both of our lives.”

Kelly and Layla exchanged glances, not really understanding – they would be just fine financially for the rest of their lives regardless and were pretty sure Maryse was never going to go short either. Still, it hardly mattered as long as they got what they wanted out of the deal. 

~::~

“Google… Kelly, you have a laptop oui?”

“Of course I do,” Kelly said with mild annoyance before getting up and heading into the kitchen; she had had the laptop playing mood-music as she cooked when she had been working herself into her zone before, and despite the fact her night hadn’t turned out as planned she was suddenly glad it was there and she wasn’t having to go traipsing upstairs for it.

Layla accepted the laptop and asked, “What’s his full name?”

“Alex… Somezing with an ‘R’.”

“Hang on—“Kelly tapped a quick message out to one of her numerous ‘friends’ and received a reply within moments which she reported back to the other girls, “Riley.”

“Riley? Such a common name,” Maryse said with reflexive distate.

Layla said nothing as she tapped the keys, her nails clicking lightly as she did so.

“No… No… Wait, is this him?” she clicked on a profile image and it brought up a bio that had obviously been done by some bog-standard social media site.

“Oui, that is the one whose picture I was given earlier.”

“Let’s see… blah blah blah… Well, he has no mother,” despite themselves the girls did feel a little compassion for this unknown boy because of that, even if they did still view him as the biggest obstacle they had been faced with for a long time, “Uh, good at sports, not bad grades… Uh, he’s so good that it’s making my teeth hurt!”

Surely there had to be something?

“Move over,” Kelly insisted, shifting so that she was sitting with Layla on the loveseat the British girl had been occupying and then looking over the screen.

“Well?” Maryse prompted in irritation when several long moments passed without a word from either girl.

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Kelly said a little hazily, quite unable to believe it, “There isn’t any single thing,” even when they typed in the name of the school that he had apparently been to last.

“Impossible!” Maryse snapped, a brief hint of panic appearing in her voice, “There must be something!”

“It’s as though he’s just been given a blank page. There isn’t so much as an altercation at school listed,” in truth there wasn’t very much of anything: just the town he came from, the schools he had been to and the sports teams that he was interested in.

“That’s weird.”

The words weren’t incorrect; given their generation’s relationship with social media and needing to know anything and everything about people it seemed unlikely that there wasn’t a single thing that was there.

“We need to get his school folder.”

“Maryse—”

“Non,” Maryse said flatly, refusing to be overridden, “You know as well as I do zat if there eez anyzing we need to know about—“i.e. anything they could try and use against him, “—then eet will be in zat folder.”

Everyone knew that literally everything you had done since kindergarten was in those folders.

“But how will we get it?” they couldn’t just waltz on into the boys’ school.

The smirk on Maryse’s face was positively devious.

Even Kelly and Layla were a little unnerved as they exchanged looks with one another.

“Mes amies, leave everything to me… I can get us into that school.”

After all… she didn’t have many boyfriends just because she got bored.

She had them for their connections as well as their performance abilities.

~::~

“Not that amazing,” Alex said softly with a small sigh, causing Mike to look up from the Chinese menu he had been perusing, expression softening a little, “Hey… you get lonely on your own?” he hadn’t meant it to come out quite as sentimental but Alex was looking pretty down about it.

“Maybe a few years back I would have been,” Alex responded with a strangely closed expression, “But not anymore. He’s home so little that it’s weirdest when he is.”

“Wish my dad was like that…”

“You don’t get on with him?”

“I guess he’s not a bad guy…” Mike acquiesced grudgingly; after all he was the man his mother had settled on after so much dating and careful weeding out of those she didn’t think would mesh with both her and Mike, “But let’s just say he gets a bit—“he paused, struggling to find a word, “Overbearing.”

“Is he the reason you ended up with Maryse?” he remembered Mike had said something about the situation being very complicated.

For a moment Mike looked startled, as though he couldn’t believe Alex had somehow put two and two together, but then he ducked his head momentarily and looked over the menu once more with an evasive, “Yeah, kinda…”

A soft frown touched Alex’s lips as he took note of the response but he decided to let it go; he didn’t want their night ruined by talk of family and exes… a shiver ran through Alex as his mind wandered back to his last school.

He definitely didn’t want to talk about exes.

Just as Mike looked up to give Alex his decision on what he wanted to eat he noticed that Alex was touching the small of his back, gently rubbing the spot as though it caused him pain somehow.

“You alright?”

“What?”

“Your back—“when Mike reached a hand out to touch the spot Alex jerked back a little and gave a laugh that was too airy and too bright to be anything but fake.

“Don’t worry about it; I just pulled a muscle earlier.”

Mike stilled a moment and then nodded, giving Alex his order and then watching as the other boy moved across to the phone situation in its cradle in the hallway, menu in hand.

He didn’t touch that spot on his back again but Mike couldn’t get the sensation that he was missing something out of his awareness. It hadn’t been too noticeable to him at first when he had been pursuing Alex as hard as he had, but when he had pulled his reins in a bit he had noticed a few things about the other boy:

Like how he’d jump if someone just appeared behind him, tensing as though he was spoiling for a fight even though (as far as Mike could tell) Alex wasn’t physically confrontational, or how he’d get this strange emptiness in his eyes, as though he was lost somewhere that he really didn’t want to be whenever he allowed his attention to fall…

People often told him that years of associating with his best friends had made him melodramatic but he was pretty damned sure despite that that he wasn’t imagining it.

“Do I miss something?”

“Huh?” Mike blinked a few times as he realised that Alex had finished on the phone and was now standing before him with a curious and slightly uncertain look on his face.

“What? No… No,” Mike then offered his most assured flirty smile, “I was just wondering if maybe I could offer you a backrub. You know, ease some of that tension for you?”

Alex looked amused, but that guarded light was in his eyes again, “Any excuse to get my clothes off?”

“Have you seen you naked? If you wanna just give me a picture to appease myself—”

“Ask me again later; food makes me mellow,” he took Mike’s hand, surprising and delighting him even though the gesture was so unbelievably simple, and led him towards the living-room to wait for their food.

~::~

“I wish we hadn’t eaten so soon…”

“Why?” Punk asked curiously as he and Evan started to walk back towards Evan’s house.

“Because…” Evan blushed and looked away then, hands linked loosely behind his back, “Nice night isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s been a good night—“and he wasn’t talking about the weather, if that was how Evan was trying to deflect him, “—so what were you going to say?”

Sighing slightly Evan bit his lip and then turned to look to Punk, “Because it means that now we’ve got no excuse to keep hanging out, doesn’t it?” Punk’s parents wouldn’t be expecting him to stay out too late, and they were already passed eight o’clock.

“We didn’t have dessert,” Punk reminded with a grin and Evan looked confused a moment before he then chuckled.

“Are you inviting yourself back to my place?”

“I do recall you mentioned something about your mother making an amazing chocolate cream cake…” Punk grinned back and Evan’s playful smile softened; he had mentioned the cake absently, relieved in a way himself because that meant his mother was having one of her better days when she could bolster the energy to bake.

“Well, the cake is better when you can share it…”

“And I do believe I have mentioned my strong sweet-tooth?”

As Evan laughed, arms moving just slightly away from his sides Punk did a neat sidestep and walked with his arm around Evan’s waist all the way back to Evan’s place.

They each got a generous slice of cake when they headed inside (Evan’s mother had been making herself a mug of hot chocolate and taking a small slice up herself with a book to read in bed, assuring them both they could have as much of the cake as they wanted and for Punk to make himself at home, to which Punk had graciously complimented her and internally intended to do just that) getting settled down.

“See? That’s how good an impression I’ve made on your mum: she’s already inviting me to move in.”

Evan almost choked on some cake as he snickered, “You probably wouldn’t like our box-room.”

“Who said I wanted my own room? I’m moving in with you of course.”

“Cheeky…”

“You love it.”

They fell into companionable silence again as they ate, Evan only startling from his comfortable thoughts on what a great time he had when Punk was involved when he suddenly felt a hot, slightly wet tongue tracing over the corner of his lips. It took everything he had not to drop his fork and plate, barely managing to keep from dislodging the last pieces of his cake from the plate.

“Wha--?”

Punk’s own cake was gone, but he still had a glimmer in his eyes that said he was hungry for something.

“You have cake on your lips.”

“You--- you could’ve just told me,” the blushing bookworm murmured, ducking his gaze.

“I could,” Punk agreed, reaching out and cupping Evan’s chin and tilting his head up even as he angled his own, “But that would have been much less fun for me.”

This time when he kissed Evan the smaller boy was ready for it, Punk managing to have the presence of mind to take Evan’s cake from him and set it on the coffee-table before shifting so that he was lightly hovering over him on the squashy, comfortable three-seater settee.

Evan hadn’t been kidding: the cake really did taste better when shared.

~::~

John hadn't been at all sure that he would bother going to watch a movie with Randy; he had wanted to know what his ex had to say for himself and figured he owed it to the man after the save the other night, but he had assumed that Randy's excuses would be more of the same, too poor to be believed. Instead he'd gotten the truth rather than an excuse and was starting to believe that Randy had made an honest mistake that he hated himself for and had dealt with it in the typically arrogant way he tended to, invoking poor judgement along the way and going about things in exactly the wrong way. John sometimes forgot that to get the best from Randy he had to be pushed into it, or else he'd act like a dick and expect everyone to simply accept it. Sometimes, Randy was his own worst enemy. 

He was surprised when he accepted the invitation to go and watch the latest action/ adventure offering, which he wanted to see in a distant fashion and wouldn't have cared too much had he missed, certainly his friends hadn't made plans to go along and check it out. Randy was the one to buy their drinks and a tub of popcorn that John already knew they would probably leave most of, he'd eaten well at the restaurant and didn't think he could manage much more. Still, the thought was a nice one and it ensured that at least one of Randy's hands was occupied.

They didn't see anyone they knew at the pictures, although Randy had thought he'd see someone from their school at least. There was a crowd of girls heading for a comedy that started at the same time and he thought one or two of them looked familiar but he had never cared enough about casual acquaintance to learn the names of people who weren't in his immediate circle or he would have further dealings with.

The film wasn't bad, there were enough explosions to leave them both happy and surprisingly, the popcorn did end up getting eaten. Historically in the pictures they would hold hands, lean into one another or whisper comments on what they were watching; this time there was a distance between them... although they still exchanged comments, Randy's first murmur a little hesitant but growing in confidence when John seemed quite casual about the whole thing. 

Afterwards Randy took John home, pausing outside the gates to the large house John and his brothers lived in. “I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow.”

“I guess so.” John shifted slightly. Now Randy was going to kiss him, he just knew it, he recognised the look in the man's eyes. And he was going to have to decide if he was going to break it quickly or let it linger or stop Randy before it even got that far. He still didn't have a clue what he felt, if he thought that he should give Randy another chance. Randy certainly seemed contrite, even if he had acted like a prize jackass in an attempt to get John back initially, and John was miserable without him. Maybe he should just see where things went. 

“Well, goodnight.” Randy stepped back and turned to leave. John watched, taken aback. Randy was leaving? That was just – that made no sense! And it pissed him off as well; he had been wondering how to deal with the inevitable kiss and he wasn't even getting one?

“Randy!”

Randy paused, turned to look at him. “Yeah?”

John stepped forward and boldly pressed a kiss to Randy's lips. It was quick, hard, relatively chaste and lasted only a few seconds but John thought that for the moment, it would do. It would at least let Randy know that he was in two minds about what he was going to decide about their future. 

“Goodnight,” he said quickly and escaped into his house, before he could do something he regretted. Like throw away all his good intentions by telling Randy how much he still loved him and heading home with him instead of doing the sensible thing. But once inside, he rather wished he had thrown caution to the wind. 

Outside the gate where John had left him, Randy stood completely still until he saw the change of light that told him John had opened the front door and then closed it again, a smile spreading over his lips. Oh yes, things were working out perfectly and now he just needed for the vultures to find something else to gossip over. 

Like, for example, Mike leaving his extremely hot, rich and sexually adventurous girlfriend for another man. Not that he was about to out his friend just to suit his own relationship but he was pretty sure that Maryse's explosive personality wouldn't allow it to be a secret for long. He would be there for Mike while he was the topic of hot gossip, of course he would, but as long as attention was firmly on him then there would be the chance for him and John to rekindle their romance so unobtrusively that it would be as if they never split up and the rumours about Justin would be completely forgotten. 

~:~

Punk didn't stay too long at Evan's house – he was trying to be good so that his parents would consider easing up on him a little. Admittedly it wasn't his behaviour that tended to get him into trouble, he was thoughtful and got relatively good grades, he didn't drink, smoke or do drugs. It was his half-tamed sarcastic mouth that tended to land him in it. Still, he thought that should his parents see that he was making an effort, even if he slipped occasionally, he would be more likely to get time to spend with Evan and maybe even his credit card back if he promised to leave off tattoos 'til he hit eighteen. 

Evan walked him to the door, insisting that he took some of the cake that his mother had made with him for his own parents. Call him foolish but he desperately wanted Punk's parents to think that he was a good influence, a good guy. Not only would they be more likely to give Punk a freer rein if they thought that, but Evan just liked to be liked. He was a sunny, get-along teen and he had no desire to make enemies of any kind, but he was aware that there were parents who weren't ever going to be happy if their children were gay. He didn't know if Punk's parents were in this category, he didn't dare ask. 

“I had a good night.” Punk grinned at him and leaned in to kiss Evan again, right at the door where anyone could see. Evan knew his mother was in bed, he also knew that she wouldn't mind even slightly but it was still a rather heady, rebellious feeling to be so open about their affection. 

“Maybe I could come over for a study date in the next couple of days,” suggested Punk when they'd separated. “I could get in pizza...”

“I could guide you through a vampire invasion of Madrid,” suggested Evan and Punk laughed at him. “I'll probably be going for coffee with the guys right after school and I've got a sparring session at five but if you're free about seven tomorrow, I'll be starving and free.”

Punk raised his eyebrows. “Sparring session?”

“Yeah,” said Evan casually. “I've got black belts in several disciplines and I do competitions sometimes.”

“Really? You get more intriguing by the day. How come you don't talk about this?”

Evan laughed politely. “Because as soon as someone finds out I can fight, especially since I'm a good bit shorter than most of the guys, they want to challenge me and I'd rather not get suspended.”

“Good point.”

“I've got some trophies and stuff in my room though, if you wanna come over and learn some more, I could show you once we're done.”

“Hmm, a chance for you to show me where you sleep and how you can kick my ass? Wouldn't miss it.” Punk kissed him again, on the lips but lighter this time. “I'll see you tomorrow. Sleep well.”

Evan waved him goodbye, a grin on his lips. He was pretty sure he was going to sleep very well and he also had the feeling who would be in his thoughts before he did. 

~:~

Ted and Cody only just missed seeing Randy and John as they exited the film they had been watching; their friends went in only a minute or so before they came out. Not that they were hoping for someone to come along and interrupt. Ted had started off rather shy and surprisingly enough, so had Cody. But after a while they had both relaxed enough to whisper back and forth about the film, sneak tastes of each others snacks and chuckle occasionally when something amusing happened. In Cody's humble opinion, the date was going very well and he was rather disappointed when the film ended and they had to leave the cinema. 

Outside, Cody slipped his hand into Ted's without thinking about it and then blushed a little when he realised he might be seen as being a bit forward – then again, after what he had done in the classroom Ted still wanted to be there with him so maybe he wasn't being forward at all. It was hard to tell, since Ted didn't seem to know much about how the dating and flirting thing worked. He could be painfully honest about how he was feeling which Cody found refreshing but it meant the slight gestures that he looked for to see if someone liked him back or would welcome more attention were missing. 

“I know it's getting on,” he said hopefully. “But perhaps you'd like to grab a burger or something?” Cody didn't go for burgers very often but he was willing to put his diet on hold to spend a little more time with Ted. 

Ted didn't say anything for a moment and Cody wondered if he'd been imagining Ted having a good time. Maybe he was desperate for the date to end but was too polite to say so? He was about to retract the offer when Ted suddenly spoke up. “My parents and my brothers' are out for the evening. I'm not very fond of burgers to be honest with you, at least not from the fast food places around here, but if you like we could get chicken from the take-out and then take it back to my place, maybe eat it there? I'll still drive you home once we're done of course.”

Cody was so startled and excited that he almost forgot to answer. Alone with Ted was more than he had dared to hope for, not to mention that chicken was better for his skin than a burger (he was planning to ignore the fried part).”That sounds great!” he enthused and then managed to temper himself a little. “I mean, that sounds like a good plan. Let's do that.”

Ted chuckled to himself. “We won't be able to hold hands once we're covered in chicken grease of course.”

“I could make a really inappropriate comment about that,” returned Cody slyly, delighted when Ted looked a little shocked. “But I'd rather starve than not hold your hand. I intend to wash.”

Ted laughed a little at the comment and led Cody to his car, opening the door for him once more. Cody wasn't quite sure how he felt about the chivalrous actions over the more matey ones that he would have expected but he was more than willing to allow Ted to continue them as long as he wanted. The drive to Ted's house didn't take too long even with the stop for a family sized bucket of chicken and Cody, who had obviously never been there before, was interested, not knowing what to expect. 

A part of him had thought that there would be religious symbols and all kinds of strange things on the walls, but he was completely wrong about that. In the grand hallway there was a smallish picture of Jesus on the mound but it was not in pride of place, that was reserved for family pictures. A couple getting married that could only be Ted's parents, a group of three pre-pubescent boys grinning at the camera for another. The middle boy could only be Ted and Cody smiled. “Weren't you a cutie? Not that you're not still of course.”

Ted flushed slightly. “I wish mum would move that somewhere people couldn't see it,” he said ruefully. “Two minutes after that picture was taken, Brett bit Michael in the kneecap and we all got into big trouble. Whenever I see it, all I think about is the tantrums and fuss and how pissed my dad was.”

“In the kneecap?”

“It was the only place he could reach at the time.” Ted laughed. “I was in the way and got an elbow in the ribs, but I knew better than to hit him back when dad was there and starting to get annoyed.”

“Must have been interesting, growing up with so many brothers.”

“Well, you have a brother right?” Ted flushed a little as he remembered his glimpse of Cody's elder brother. 

“Yeah, and a sister. She's away at uni, it's her last year. My brother's quite a lot older than me, he doesn't live with us. He stays sometimes though. He's my dad's son from his first marriage.”

“Uh... doesn't your dad freak out when he shows up dressed like – well, like a woman?”

“Nah.” Cody laughed. “I joke sometimes that he only started that thing because he wanted to shock my dad, but dad is completely unshockable. He says it's not growing up sheltered like we did that means he's not so bothered about all this stuff.”

Ted caught the reference to Cody's father being the first of their line to have money but didn't think too much of it, even though his own parents came from money so old it was positively antiquated. “Come on through to the living room, we'll eat there.”

“Do your parents know I'm here?” Cody asked as he followed Ted through to the living room. 

“Oh yeah,” said Ted a little absently, carrying the chicken. “They're a little funny about me being here alone anyway and when I said I was going out with you, they were rather pleased that I'd not be spending time by myself.”

This struck Cody as a little odd, but then again what did he know? His brother was out dressed in a lycra catsuit and a blonde wig. “Did you tell them it was a, uh, date?”

“No.” Ted stopped, giving Cody a rather serious look. “I meant it, when I said that I wasn't about to start coming out of the closet until it's unavoidable. I don't know what my parents would think but I'd rather not get to it until I really have to.”

“Right.” Cody met Ted's eyes, unsmiling. “Just so you know, I intend to make you so crazy for me that it becomes unavoidable.”

Ted's lips quirked a little. “I really believe you could do it,” he said and vanished into the living room before Cody had the chance to reply. He followed Ted, his heart beating a little faster than it had done before – again, Ted had that sometimes disarming honesty and Cody was more than willing to work on Ted for as long as it took. His friends had occasionally said that one date would shatter all of Cody's illusions about the blonde and put him right off, the opposite had happened and Cody was more smitten than ever. 

The living room contained still more pictures of the family rather than some giant crucifix on the wall with a bleeding, pain-ridden Jesus mounted on it. There was a picture of the church that the family attended but the focus was on the group of people outside it, posing for a picture presumably after some fun activity or church affair. Another wedding picture, smaller this time. Individual pictures of the three DiBiase boys at various ages, the most recent of Ted showing him in the school colours against the backdrop of the pitch. Some older pictures, presumably of grandparents. They were all tastefully arranged but numerous and Cody could tell that for the people within this house, family was the most important thing. 

Ted put the chicken on the coffee table and told Cody to find something on the TV while he went and got them drinks. Cody flipped through the channels, finally finding some lame comedy that would distract them if they needed it but wasn't about to get in the way of conversation. And Cody would certainly prefer conversation. When Ted returned Cody had expected home-made lemonade or something along those lines and was reminded about assumptions once more when Ted came out with a four-pack of pepsi and put it on the table. 

The television was roundly ignored as the two devoured the chicken, rehashing the plot of the film they'd seen and then moving onto more personal topics. Cody admitted that he hadn't had the best few weeks with Randy in a black temper over John and Ted countered by saying John hadn't exactly been Mr Happy to be around either, the decision by their group being that they would avoid Randy and his friends from now on. “You can see just how well that turned out,” added Ted with a grin. 

Ted also admitted that he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about Alex. “He's nice, don't get me wrong,” he said as he tugged the skin off the chicken and ate it methodically, Cody watching closely. Chocolate and oysters were supposed to be erotic foods but he thought it took a special gift to make chicken skin look sensual. Somehow Ted managed it. “But we don't know all that much about him and there's some topics he doesn't like to talk about. I like him, I like hanging out with him and there's stuff that people don't like talking about. But we haven' t known him all that long and I'm just not sure that he'll fit in over the long run.”

“You don't think he will?”

“It's not that, don't think that I don't like him or that I don't think he's someone who we'll end up falling out with. It's not like that. It's just that sometimes I get the feeling he has secrets...” Ted shrugged and chuckled at his own melodrama. “But then again, who doesn't?”

“Mike's taken with him,” said Cody. “When he thought Alex was seeing John, he sulked until he found out it was a trick. And trust me, Mike can sulk.” 

Ted laughed, finishing his food and using some of the wipes they were given to delicately clean his fingers. Cody followed suit, checking his manicure as he did so and finding it still perfect. The food no longer providing a reason to keep them apart, Cody decided he might as well be bold (he had a feeling that as long as he'd waited for Ted to notice his interest, he'd be waiting forever if he let Ted dictate the speed things progressed at) and snuggled closer to Ted, leaning against him and twining their hands together. Ted glanced down at their joined hands, a slight smile playing at his lips. 

“I really enjoyed myself tonight,” Cody said flirtatiously. “Just one thing missing...”

When Ted turned his head, presumably to ask what might be missing from the night, Cody leaned forward and kissed him. Ted's lips still tasted faintly of the chicken and the wipe he had cleaned up with and Cody made an appreciative noise; one of the reasons he wasn't too keen on kissing after eating dates was the potential for unpleasantness but Ted still tasted good. And he still kissed like a pro, in spite of the shyness that he always showed before getting lost in the moment.

Cody toyed with Ted's hair as they kissed and after a moment Ted wrapped his arms around Cody's waist as they became familiar with one another in a way it hadn't been possible to in the tree house at the party. Cody wished very much that he dared to make some kind of move, maybe persuade Ted to show a little skin but here, in Ted's parents house when they had no idea of their sons preferences, he simply didn't dare. Which didn't mean he was entirely going to behave himself. 

Their positions on the couch, side by side, simply weren't conducive to comfort and Cody moved, slipping onto Ted's lap without breaking the kiss. He felt Ted gasp a little but refused to let up and after a moment Ted relaxed, surprising Cody a little by pulling him further onto his knee. Cody was certain that he could feel Ted smiling as they kissed, he felt a little like doing the same thing. If there had ever been doubt that Ted was interested in him, it was all but extinguished now.

When they broke apart, Cody rested his forehead against Ted's, a beaming smile on his face. “Does this mean you'll let me take you out again?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” replied Ted, smiling back at him. 

Cody chuckled slightly. “Should we uh, expect company any time soon?”

“I think we're safe for another half-hour or so.”

“Good stuff.” Cody ruffled Ted's hair, laughing a little as Ted protested and then leaned in to kiss the other boy again. 

~:~

Kelly had given in to temptation and broken out the chocolate dessert for the girls. They were eating minuscule portions and Kelly had to remind herself to throw the rest into the bin and squirt bleach on it so she wouldn't be tempted to try sneaking the rest once they had gone. The last thing she needed to worry about was weight gain on top of everything else. 

She wasn't at all sure that Maryse's idea of taking Riley's records from the school was a good one, there were things that would get them into acceptable trouble and things that could get them into serious bother with the school and the police, potentially. But their parents could make those kinds of things disappear usually and so she decided to go along with it. If what Maryse said was right, it wasn't even them who would get caught for it. 

The conversation had just turned to other things when her phone bleeped and she picked it up, glancing at the picture she had been sent and freezing. There was no mistaking it. John was with Randy. They were out together, it looked like the car park at the cinema and they were chatting together, Randy looking amused and John laughing at something. Actually laughing. After everything that had happened, John would even consider going back to Randy when she was there – it just defied belief!

“What's wrong?” asked Layla, seeing the expression on Kelly's face. 

Kelly put the phone down, expression black, thinking. She could ask for Orton's records while they got Riley's but that would do no good, Randy's records weren't good but there was nothing that he had to hide and his disciplinary track was well known. She didn't think that would work. If only Justin was still around and then perhaps she could have worked out something there. It was clear that Randy wasn't exactly immune to temptation...

Maybe that was the solution. 

“Kelly?”

Kelly looked up and smirked. “I think our next assignment is finding someone who wouldn't mind a roll in the hay with Randy Orton and making damned sure that it happens. And soon.”

~::~

“I wish we didn’t have school tomorrow.”

“I didn’t think you minded school,” Alex mused from where he was currently in the middle of changing the bin bag for the kitchen bin. Mike was sitting on the side, admittedly rather shamelessly watching the way Alex’s top stretched against his form as he shifted and bent to remove the bag, surprisingly full (though that could have been because of their takeaway then Alex alone when he was at home) with apparently no difficulty.

“I don’t mind it.”

He got to hang out with his friends, laugh at those less socially fortunate than himself, and now he also had double the excuse to eyeball Alex when the other was wearing the rather indecent shorts their school supplied them for PE.

“So why wish we didn’t have to go?”

“Because if it wasn’t a school night tomorrow I would have been able to stay longer.”

“Like the Chinese that much?” Alex joked, though he had to hide his smile; he was genuinely pleased that Miked was enjoying spending time with him even when there was nothing physically intimate happening.

“It’s not just the Chinese I like.”

“Well… you could stay over,” Alex suggested, and then blushed in that way that Mike was becoming unnervingly fond of, “I mean, you know, you can stay in my bed and I’ll camp out on the floor with you.” He wouldn’t invite the other to stay over and then sleep in the spare room; that would be a little awkward.

“You could share with me. Even if you have a single. You don’t though, right?”

“No,” Alex looked mildly bemused, “I have a King Size bed.”

That didn’t shock Mike; given the size of Alex he’d probably still seem to take up a good amount of space in that size.

“So? We could share no problem.”

“Your parents let you stay out on a school night?”

“What are we?” Mike teased with a grin as he hopped down from the counter, “Twelve? As long as I get my ass to school the next morning mum’s pretty accommodating.”

“Huh, go figure…”

“Your old man not so good about friends over?”

Alex sneered a little, the expression strange on Alex’s usually smiling face but strangely attractive to Mike all the same, “I don’t think he’d give a damn even if he was home.”

“That’s another point; I’d feel better not leaving you alone.”

Unable to help himself Alex chuckled a little, sitting back down on the settee, Mike sitting beside him a moment later. He’d drive the other home in a bit, there was no rush yet; realistically he knew it was probably a good idea if they didn’t get to stay over together…

Alex wasn’t sure he’d quite be able to behave himself, and Mike had already proved that he could be damned seductive when he wanted to even without putting too much effort into it apparently.

“Aren’t you a gentleman?”

“Of course,” Mike pretended to dust off his collar, “Ain’t no man more gentleman than me.”

“I can’t decide whether you sounded like a bad R’n’B star then or some old Southern Cowboy.”

“I’d make a hot cowboy, don’t you think?” Mike smirked, “I mean, those ass-less chaps I’d just rock—”

And Alex really could have done without that image in his head.

Please don’t let him get aroused, please.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You mean you can’t tell just by looking?”

“I’ve tried not to look too much.”

Mike looked as though he didn’t know whether to pout or be amused, “Aren’t you cute?”

“I don’t think guys of my size qualify as cute.”

“You’re wrong there; you’re really one of a kind Alex,” and Mike wasn’t attempting to be all sentimental or anything by saying that, he just genuinely meant it; he had come across all kinds of boys when he’d been at school over the years but none had come even close to him.

“I must have had something about me… I mean, to get your notice and all.”

Mike’s brows rose, shifting closer to Alex, “Why’d you say that?”

“Because,” Alex looked embarrassed again--- or maybe that dazed expression was to do with the fact that Mike had straddled his lap as comfortably and as casually as though he had done it hundreds of times before.

“Because?” he prompted.

“Because… you’re really special Mike.”

Retrospectively Mike didn’t know what he had thought Alex was going to say but given the weird little jump his heart did in his chest that wasn’t it.

“Special? Me? Is this some kind of handicap joke—”

“What are we, twelve?” Alex mimicked his words from earlier lightly and then sighed, “Yes, you, Mike. I mean, even when I first saw you…” he looked rueful, “I knew I wanted to get to know you. I mean, us being like this is incredible but I just… wanted to be around you.”

Once upon a time Mike had genuinely believed that he would run for the hills the second someone said things like that to him, but he was surprisingly delighted by the admissions from Alex. He felt as though he should make one of his usual smart-ass comments or something but the words just wouldn’t come; it seemed that for once even his motor-mouth didn’t want to ruin the moment.

So, instead, he did something that he’d been wanting to do with Alex since the first time he’d done it, and something that he had done with a doubly clear conscience since he had dropped Maryse out of his life earlier on.

He kissed Alex.

He kissed him almost tenderly, not wanting to rush the boy, but at the same time with a firmness that let him know that he wasn’t about to let Alex back away from him too early.

But, Alex clearly didn’t want to back away.

His large hands spanned comfortably over Mike’s thigh and his lower-back as he kissed back, happy to let Mike take the lead and yet being nowhere near what one could call a passive partner in their kissing. The kisses soon deepened to the point where Mike could taste the Chow Mein faintly that Alex had eaten and Alex could taste the curry sauce from Mike’s meal.

French Kiss? Nah; this one was completely Oriental.

~::~

“I--- need to take you home—”

“One minute.”

“Ok…”

A few more kisses were exchanged and then Ted forced himself to pull back.

“I really do need to take you home. Or at least a few minutes to make it look as though I haven’t been engaging in a fantastic make-out session,” especially since his parents were due home at any moment.

Unable to help himself Cody pouted and sighed but obediently slid from Ted’s lap to be sat next to him instead.

“Is kissing me that enjoyable?”

“You’ve clearly never kissed yourself.”

“Now that is an interesting consideration.”

“Don’t even think about trying it without me present,” Cody playfully warned with a light laugh before then leaning forward and pecking Ted on the cheek.

That gentle, chaste contact surprised the blonde, touching his fingers to the spot Cody’s lips had touched. It was tingling and felt warmer than the rest of his face even underneath his fingertips.

“What was that for?”

“For giving me the chance to show you how I feel about you, and for a great evening.”

“If this is what I get I’ll try to take you out regularly.”

“Please do,” Cody grinned.

“You’d probably get sick of seeing me.”

“Never gonna happen—“Cody said with such confidence that Ted even found himself believing him.

Ted wasn’t dumb though, and there was still a part of him that was a little bit guarded. And it wasn’t even so much the fact of Cody’s reputation anymore as opposed to the prospect of what might happen should he let himself become even more emotionally invested in their fledgling relationship than he already was. He had seen what breaking up with Randy had done to John, and although he had a romantic streak Ted wasn’t dumb enough to think that he and Cody would get together, they’d come out to everyone and then everything would be strawberries and cream until they were both seventy and sitting on a porch in a warm home somewhere living out the last of their days reminiscing about their youth and warming their legs with matching tartan rugs.

Before he could respond though the front door opened, “Theodore?” his mother called though Ted knew full-well that she knew he was in.

“In here Ma!” he called back lightly, fighting a smile at how Cody quickly straightened up and brushed down his immaculate clothing.

He didn’t need to try so hard to impress Ted’s parents that much the blonde was sure of; his mother would be won over without any effort at least.

“Hello boys,” she breezed into the room, sans coat (Sr. was obviously hanging them up) and paused before them both. “You must be Cody,” she offered a friendly if subtly guarded smile and extended a well-manicured hand to him.

Given the look of surprise on her face when Cody’s hand lightly enveloped hers she must have taken note of the fact that he had had one too.

“Please to meet you Mrs DiBiase,” and wasn’t Cody’s lisp just the cutest thing? “Sorry for making myself comfortable but Ted and I just had a little something to eat after the movie.” They had tidied up at least before they had returned and that always scored points with the parents, “You have a beautiful home; did you decorate yourself?”

Ted was mildly surprised by how easily Cody seemed to have engaged his mother but at the same time he didn’t know why he was shocked; he had known Cody for years after all even if they could never exactly have been called friends and he had always rather envied the easy way Cody just seemed to engage people. Granted that engagement wasn’t always a positive one but it was there; Ted struggled to maintain a neutrally sound behaviour when it came to people he was meeting for the first time because neutral always worked out even if it didn’t exactly make you new friends when you were starting at playgroup as a child.

When his father entered the room though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t somewhat nervous.

However, even Sr. merely smiled, shook Cody’s hand and started to engage him in conversation about what the movie had been like.

Cody didn’t seem half as easy with his father… but Ted supposed that was because he had wisely deduced that lightly moderated flirting and flattery probably wouldn’t work the same way.

Figuring his parents had asked enough Ted stood, “I’ll be getting Cody home now.”

“Oh, so soon?” Sr. said lightly, though he clapped Cody on the shoulder firmly, “Don’t be a stranger now.”

“Of course not sir.”

“Drive safely now dear. Have a good night Cody.”

“You too, Mr and Mrs DiBiase,” Cody smiled and waved as Ted hastily steered him out of the front door and away from the pair.

“They are usually never so talkative!” Ted tutted, somewhat embarrassed as he got into the car, Cody seated in the passenger’s side.

“I thought that was sweet,” Cody grinned, “They really care about you.”

“I wish they didn’t care so much sometimes.”

“If they didn’t you’d miss it,” Cody said with surprising seriousness.

“So… Can I walk you to your door?” Ted asked, hoping to segue the conversation a little.

Cody grinned, “Only if I get a goodnight kiss.”

“I think I could be persuaded…”

“Then yes, you may.”


	8. Chapter Seven: Rubbing Off On You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumours abound around the school once more-- yet the topic of Maryse's new beau is surprisingly on the down-low for a girl who loves to be the centre of attention.

“I was wondering when I’d see you here,” Cody yawned behind his hand as Mike approached, the pair hiding out in the unofficial-official smoking-spot. Most of the faculty turned a blind-eye to students smoking as long as it was done there and nowhere else--- you tried smoking anything harder than cigs though, even there, and they heard about it?

Well, let’s just say your parents would be kicking your ass righteous and then cutting down your allowance for the foreseeable future to make the rep not appear on your permanent record as anything more than a warning, or even a suspension despite that.

“I’m shocked you’re even out of bed.”

“Hey, I was late once.”

“Yes, once a week, on Monday, for about two months.”

“Pot calling kettle black.”

“I wasn’t condemning you Code, I was just saying.”

“You’re in a good mood for a Monday morning.”

Mike accepted the lighter Cody held out to him, lighting his cig, “And you’re not?”

“Guess I am,” Cody nodded, slipping his lighter back into his pocket.

Both he and Mike were far too into themselves to be anything more than social smokers, but they did like one now and again. Randy was pretty much the same although he smoked more than those two had. Technically speaking Cody had probably picked up the habit from Randy; he’d gone through a hero-worship stage with the other when they were younger, something his friends loved to tease him about even now.

“How did your date go?” Mike figured he should start Cody off now instead of leaving it until later when Cody would get far too over-excited and burst out with it all at once later. In truth he was actually surprised that the other hadn’t bombarded them all with texts about the date as soon as it was over.

“It was… the most amazing night of my life.”

“Man, Randy will be disappointed.”

“What--- oh don’t be a dick!” Cody chuckled and kicked him in the ankle.

“Ow, bitch! Watch the jeans! They’re new.”

“I noticed… You could’ve done with a lighter shade though.”

“Shut your face Queer Eye. Your date?”

“He was a perfect gentleman.”

“Sounds boring to me,” Mike teased good-naturedly, pleased that things had been going well for Cody. Of course the fact that his own evening had been pretty damned awesome even though he hadn’t got to sleep over at Alex’s house probably factored into his generous nature.

“And I suppose you and Alex were like rampant rabbits all evening?”

“I’m shocked he’s even walking today,” Mike smirked, but Cody could see he was just bluffing.

“Speaking of people walking today… You seen Randy or Punk yet?”

“Nah… but you know Randy; he likes to make an entrance, and Punk… just can’t help pissing Mr Laurinitus off.”

Then again not many people could; their Deputy Head was a smarmy motherfucker who sounded as though he’d been smoking twenty a day since he was about ten. No one quite knew how he still had a job considering no one seemed to like him, and even Mr McMahon the Headmaster seemed to take great delight in cutting him down to size. Him and Mrs Guererro… she was completely and utterly inappropriate as a Spanish teacher. Ironically speaking next to no Spanish fluently. Apparently she only got the job as a proviso favour for her deceased husband; he had been a native Spanish speaker and infinitely more popular than she could ever hope to be.

“Oh shit… Wanna ditch?”

“Is the Pope Jewish?”

“No dude—“Cody snickered, knowing Mike was just larking.

“Awww, really?” Mike gave a faux look of shock, “But yeah, I wanna ditch… Let’s go hang in the gym.”

~::~

Punk got a text telling him that Mike and Cody were ditching and was sorely tempted to do the same, but wasn't he supposed to be behaving himself? Still, he considered it for quite a while before reluctantly heading off to class, the last thing he needed was a call put in to his parents. He was pretty sure that the office staff knew his dad's mobile number off by heart. 

He went to his locker, his mind still on the date that he and Evan had been on last night and how much the smaller boy continued to surprise him in a wholly good way, so when an arm went around his shoulders he fully expected it to be his new boyfriend – until he turned around and saw Zack Ryder standing behind him. The guy was okay, he supposed, but he was an over-enthusiastic pain in the ass who didn't seem to respond to Punk's caustic sarcasm even slightly. Punk had to be in the right mood to deal with Zack and while he might have been before the whole arm-around-the-shoulder thing, he certainly wasn't any more. 

“The hell do you want?” he asked bluntly. 

Zack beamed at Punk and Punk reflected, not for the first time, that Zack looked like some throwback to the nineteen-eighties. Retro might be cool but there was such a thing as taking it too far. “I was hoping you could increase my cred around these parts, bro.”

“I'm not your bro,” said Punk irritably. “And what the hell are you talking about?”

“Where've you been? You've gotta know what everyone's talking about this morning!”

Punk's mind went blank. Had someone found out about his dates with Evan, seen them kissing the night before? Not that he care especially if they had, he could cheerfully ride out any talk about himself easily enough because he was one of the few people that genuinely didn't care about the opinions of others; when he said it, he meant it. But he wasn't sure that Evan would feel the same way and in any case, didn't people have anything more important to talk about?

Zack sighed dramatically at Punk's confusion. “The party, bro.”

Oh yeah, he had kissed Evan at the party as well. Not that he had forgotten but he hadn't thought much about what people would say, in fact he had more or less forgotten that anyone else had been around. “Yeah, me and Ev were kissing because we're together. What's it to anyone else?”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that!” Zack chuckled. “I was out by the pool, showing off my dives to the ladies...”

Punk rolled his eyes.

“Nicely done, bro.” Zack made a fist as if about to punch Punk's bicep or possibly was expecting a fist-bump, but thought better of it. He was a little like an excitable puppy sometimes but he wasn't stupid, no matter what some people thought. “Nicely done dude, that Evan, yeah, I'm sure he's good lookin', though me being into the ladies I wouldn't be able to make a judgement on that.” He laughed manically. “But I wasn't talking about you guys. Didn't Randy go home with John?”

Ah. Punk should have expected that he and Evan would be small-time talk after the potential of the school's golden gay couple being back together after a messy break-up involving an exchange student. 

“I heard John was so wasted he couldn't stand,” said Zack with a little gleam in his eyes. “I heard Randy picked him up, put him over his shoulder and spirited him away, back to his lurve nest. I heard Randy tied John to the bed and spent the whole weekend banging his brains out--”

“For someone who's into the ladies, you seem very fixated on those two fucking.”

Zack looked alarmed. “Hey, I don't start these rumours, I voice 'em. Any truth?”

Punk knew that the rumour was going to keep going no matter how much he denied it but he might as well give it a try. “No truth. Randy shoved John into a cab. I saw him the next day and John was safe home in bed, presumably anyway. He wasn't with us and he sure wasn't at Randy's.”

Zack looked surprisingly disappointed. “So no truth that they went out together last night either?”

“How the hell would I know? I'm not Randy's keeper. You ask him.”

“Yeah, right.” Zack snorted and Punk hid a smirk; even Zack wasn't that suicidal. “Well, thanks, I guess.”

Punk watched Zack start walking away and turned back to his locker, shaking his head in amazement. Well, at least he wasn't the number one target on the gossip list, even if people did know about him and Evan. He wasn't entirely sure if he was glad or sorry about that, mostly glad he decided as he slammed the locker closed because he wasn't one to share the details of his personal life...

“Punk?”

“Gah!” Punk whirled around to see Zack at his shoulder again. “Fucking hell, are you stalking me now?”

“Nah, I forgot.” Zack grinned conspiratorially. “Any news about Mike standing up the lovely Maryse? Is she single now? More importantly, do I stand a chance?”

Punk sighed. He was going to be late for class, that much was a given. “I don't know. Mike didn't go to the party, I don't know about the standing up part no matter what she was screeching about. I haven't heard about them breaking up--” Okay, so he was lying but it wasn't Zack's business anyway. “And as for having a chance with her, are you serious? Maryse is the most shallow woman I ever met. She'll want your credit limit before she even looks at your face and she'll check out your clothes before she deigns to speak to you. You're a walking fashion disaster bro and if you want my honest opinion, she won't go near you. And you're better off that way. And that's assuming there's any chance of her breaking up with Mike and I won't believe that 'til I hear it. They never stop fighting and they haven't broken up yet.”

Zack looked far too upset for Punk to believe it was genuine. “Harsh dude.”

“True dude. Don't you have class?”

“Who cares?” Zack smirked and walked off again and Punk went off to his own class before the other boy could accost him again. 

~:~

John hadn't been looking forward to school the next day at all and once he got there, he knew he had been right to be concerned. Where ever he went, conversation stopped and people were looking at him sideways. Whenever anyone did speak directly to him, it was to joke that he had put away plenty of beer at the party and John was heartily sick and tired of the topic before his first lesson even began. And the lesson itself wasn't too much better, since he could feel the eyes of everyone upon him. He knew it wouldn't be too long before someone asked him about Randy and what was going on between them and he honestly didn't know himself. The only retort would be to mind their own business and that was probably a dead giveaway on its own. 

He went off to his locker the moment the lesson was over, not hanging around. He thought that if he were able to grab his stuff and head off to his next class while everyone else was loitering, then perhaps he could avoid having to speak to anyone about the party and Randy or anything else that might have happened. It was humiliating enough to have been stumbling drunk (and he still didn't understand that part) without everything else that came with it. He was probably lucky that no one had added a picture to some social networking site, or else they hadn't had the chance yet. He hoped that no one had thought to take one but he probably wasn't that lucky. 

He hurried to his locker while the corridors were quiet, yanked it open, threw in the books from his last lesson and dragged out the ones he would need for the next one. A couple of people were starting to wander over and he sighed internally as someone stopped beside him, leaning against the lockers beside his. He didn't look right away, assuming it was someone chasing gossip and not one of his friends, but when he slammed the locker far harder than was needed for it to closed and looked up, his heard skipped a beat. Randy. 

“Hi,” he said, as casually as he was able, aware that people were starting to arrive and were no doubt looking at the pair of them very interestedly. 

“Hi,” returned Randy with a smile. “Rough day?”

“You have no idea,” said John before he was aware he was going to admit anything, his voice rueful. “You?”

Randy made a so-so hand gesture. “No one wants to ask me directly what's been going on at chez Orton this weekend but I've heard the whispers. Did you know you spend the whole weekend tied to the bed? Apparently I wouldn't let you leave.”

John rolled his eyes. “Like it'd be the first time,” he said, a little nervous since there was probably some rule about bringing up bedroom kinks with an ex... if Randy really was an ex. He wasn't so sure any more. “That's old gossip.”

“Is that the answer I'm to give when people ask?”

“Don't you dare.”

Randy looked around casually. “We're attracting attention. Can I walk you to your next class?”

“Uh, sure,” said John, although he wasn't sure it was the best idea. He didn't quite know how to say so though, or if he should dignify the people trying not to look like they were watching by reacting to it. For a moment he thought that Randy might take his books as if this was some after-school special and was relieved when Randy simply put his own books under his arm and fell into step with John.

“You're probably not helping me to be forgotten by the gossips,” said John as they walked. 

“What do you care what a bunch of people you're not that fond of say about you?” asked Randy. “In any case, they'll probably have forgotten all about it in a couple of days. Someone'll make a fresher target soon enough.”

“I just love the way you put it,” said John. “I'm fresh meat, am I?”

“Hey, so am I.” Randy smirked. “I'm the one being tarred as a kidnapper and potential date-rapist.”

John went quiet for a moment. “Is that really what people are saying?”

“Not to my face.” Randy sighed a little. “But I did overhear a few comments, like that I probably took advantage of you. I haven't been subtle in trying to get your attention lately and everyone knows it.”

“But nothing happened!” John paused. “Well, nothing that concerns anyone else. Nothing untoward. I should say something...”

“You do that, it sounds more suspicious. Just ignore it and punch anyone that asks questions.” Randy paused by a door. “Isn't this where your lesson is?”

“Yeah.” John hesitated a moment. Once upon a time he would have kissed Randy's cheek and headed inside, but things weren't like that any more. “See you soon.”

“Sure,” said Randy. “Hey, if you wanna be out of school at lunch, we could go grab coffee instead.”

“We're not supposed to leave school at lunch--”

“And that's stopped you when?”

“Whenever you don't talk me into breaking the rules.” 

Randy grinned. “Can I talk you into it again?”

It was a bad idea, a terrible idea. “Sure,” said John. “I'll meet you at my locker at lunch.” With that he went into the room and took his seat, smiling to himself a little. It was a bad idea and he knew it, but surely he was allowed to go with what he wanted for once, rather than what seemed to be the best idea?

~::~

“Good weekend?”

“Yes thanks, you?”

“Really good… How did the date go?”

The blush on Ted’s cheeks said more than he needed to and Alex and Evan whooped lightly.

They hastily shushed themselves though when a wan look was sent their way by Professor Long. The man was a good laugh and not afraid to stand up and make a point for things he believed in… the amusing little dance he did whenever he entered the room also made him a topical favourite. He had been teaching in the school since most people could remember, and it was no shock to anyone that he had finally reached Head of the History Department since he was so popular and had ‘served’ so long in the establishment that was their school.

“Somethin’ amusing boys?”

“No sir.”

“Alright,” he let it go easy enough because two of the three in question were two of the top academic scorers in his class and he knew they wouldn’t be slacking at least. He then addressed the class at large, “If anyone has a question then just holla at me—”

Almost immediately Santino Marella’s hand rose into the air, drawing the professor across the room; Santino had been the first exchange student they had had in several years a few years back, and he’d firmly established himself in the school as someone who was a complete clown and always up for a laugh, as well as someone who continuously made admittedly funny slips in pronunciation of English words as it wasn’t his native tongue.

Like when he addressed John’s surname as ‘Chey-Na’ instead of ‘Cee-Na,’ hilarious.

As soon as they were safely out of their professor’s line of sight Evan leant in to Ted and asked, “And how was Cody? Was he a gentleman?” he was both teasing and deadly serious; he had been not exactly hoping against anything happening between them for the sake of his friend, but he’d be lying if he said there wasn’t a part of him that was a little worried that Cody might come on too strong and do something that would cause Ted serious psychological harm or something.

“You expected he wouldn’t be?” Ted frowned softly but even as he did he knew he was being somewhat unfair to Evan; it wasn’t as though he didn’t know about Cody’s supposed reputation after all, and hadn’t that strong sexual nature been what had somewhat concerned him about ever making any attempts with his feelings in the first place? A somewhat redundant choice now it seemed but at the time it had been one of his most serious thoughts.

“Of course not,” Alex smiled and grinned playfully, “You were wearing your chastity belt right?”

Ted blushed and subtly flipped Alex off, “Maybe I should ask my dad to get you one.”

“At least let me introduce myself before you start talking about my sex-life to them,” Alex joked.

“I’m sure that would be a great introductory conversation,” Evan chuckled as he jotted down another note from the exercise sheet into his workbook before then looking across to Alex and cocking his head with a somewhat sly expression; there was a small part of him that was enjoying getting a little one-upmanship back from the way they had been teasing him before about Punk having piercings and suchlike, “But does that mean there’s something to discuss?”

“Oi—“Alex started with a playfully annoyed look before then exhaling, “Not exactly.”

The blowjob from Mike notwithstanding there really hadn’t been much for him to say on that front. And he was under no illusions that that was his fault and his fault alone; Mike would undoubtedly indulge him in whatever whim he expressed, that much Alex was sure of… after all, hadn’t he already spoiled him rather emotionally considering that he had actually broken up with a girl that (according to popular rumour) he had been pretty much settled with almost since puberty hit?

“Wow--- is Miz feeling ill?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Evan and Ted exchanged a look that Alex fought very hard to pretend he didn’t see.

“Let’s just say he’s known to be quite… friendly, especially when he’s dad a drink.”

“Cody’s the same…”

“Remember last year when they both got so wasted that they got pretty much naked and started dancing on the counters in Davey’s kitchen? I heard that they made about $200 with the amount everyone was throwing at them for their performance.”

“Wish I could’ve been there for that,” and Alex couldn’t help how serious he was.

“I don’t remember that,” Ted frowned softly, a light blush staining his cheeks as his mind was filled with an image of Cody in his underwear dancing before him.

“You weren’t there I don’t think… it was the weekend I do believe your gran’s birthday party was? And you went for the weekend?”

“Oh, yeah… Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

Evan looked innocent, “And make you miss home more than you already did? I’m not cruel you know.”

“Actually I think spending time around Punk is already changing you; his sarcasm’s rubbing off on you.”

“I’m sure that’s not the only thing he’ll be rubbing off on him…”

Hearing such a suggestion coming from Ted’s mouth had Evan almost falling out of his seat, Alex just managing to catch him.

The blonde seemed to realise what he’d insinuated and ducked his head awkwardly, wishing he could retract the words and yet glad on some level that he couldn’t; it wasn’t as though any of them could pretend that that wouldn’t be coming up in their relationships sooner or later…

His stomach knotted at such prospects he could experience with Cody.

“Seems like Ev’s not the only one picking up habits from their guy,” Alex mused, “You’re getting saucier by the day.”

“That just leaves you then Alex,” Evan interjected, recovering from his momentary bout of shock at Ted’s sudden innuendo (in school of all places) adding, “I wonder what habits you’ll pick up from him.”

“Probably a sudden interest in hats that would make him look like he’d fit in well for an extra on a remake of the Godfather films. It could be a good look for you though I’d really advise against the sequins; Morrison is the only guy who can pull of sequins and even then you’d think he was gay if you didn’t know he had a girlfriend.”

“Sequins aren’t just for women, Ted,” Evan chastised lightly, “Don’t be so sequinist,” they fell silent and got back to their work as Professor Long started to make his rounds again.

~:~

“Where you off now?” Mike asked as he shrugged his bag back over his shoulder, adjusting the hat atop his head.

“I have to go and do some Geography work quick…”

“Didn’t do your homework again?”

“Piss off,” Cody stuck his tongue out, “You’re only doing your homework to impress Bourne.”

“Hey, I resent that: I’ve always done my homework.”

“Yeah, five minutes before class is due to start,” Mike got in his two cents without looking up from his phone as he pulled it from his pocket.

Randy started to respond but then paused as he noticed the frown on Mike’s face, “What is it?”

The brunette initially didn’t respond and this time Cody prompted him, “Mike?”

“Huh?”

“What’s the matter?” Punk said with mild annoyance.

Silently, and much to his friends’ surprise (Mike’s phone was possibly his most treasured possession, right next to his most worn fedora) Mike handed over his mobile phone which Cody immediately took hold of as the other three boys crowded around the LED screen.

At first none of them really got what the message was about and Randy impatiently asked, “I don’t care what colour undies you like to—”

“Not that bit man,” Mike said, brow still furrowed, “Read near the bottom.”

Obediently the other three did so and the words immediately became imprinted in their minds,

Did u and Maryse break up? Seen her wit her new beau; who is the little rat?

“Rat? Who describes people like that?”

“Christian apparently.”

“Would explain the bad text speak… probably high on the Maple Syrup again.”

“Aren’t we a little too old for the Canada slurs?”

“We’re never too old and have never going to have known him long enough.”

“That made no sense,” Punk told Cody.

“Neither does your face.”

“Coming from the boy who had plastic surgery—”

“It was not plastic surgery! And I didn’t even get it—“he had been considering having cosmetic dentistry done to hide the gap between his front teeth that caused him lots of concern.

“Shut up you two,” Randy intoned lowly before handing Mike his phone back and studying his face, “Are you OK? Does it bother you that she’s seeing someone else?”

Mike looked almost offended, “Of course not—“how could it when he was four days away from obtaining the real, unrestrained affections of the boy who had haunted his mind since he had first set eyes on him, “It’s just weird… why would she be here?” not only was she supposed to be in school herself (girls technically weren’t supposed to leave their school for lunch either) and they certainly weren’t supposed to be mingling near the boys’ school.

Glancing at his watch Randy shrugged, “Probably just wants to make you jealous.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her… it’s just weird.”

“Why?” apparently none of his friends had seemed to make the connection that he had.

“Because she didn’t even come to visit this school during the day back when we were first together,” and they had actually had what appeared to be a decent, somewhat innocent relationship.

“You’ve never really broken up with her before either.”

“I guess you’re right…” Mike murmured.

“Of course we are,” Randy said before rolling his shoulders out and flashing a smile, “Well, excuse me boys; whilst you’re enjoying the stale, day-old delights of the canteen I have an outside lunch date to attend to.”

“What?” Cody looked surprised, “Who with?”

“John.”

“Really now?”

“Maybe the rumours are true—”

Cody yelped as Randy grabbed him in a headlock, the pair tussling in the corridor lightly.

“Not my face, not my face!”

“I’m sure that’s what you told Ted last night too wasn’t it,” Punk teased, Mike merely watching their interaction with the sinking feeling that somehow Maryse parading around a new toy was more sinister than just making sure Mike knew about it.

~:~

The last lesson before lunch was geography; John shot out of the classroom almost before the bell had finished ringing. Ted watched him with some surprise, but he had a good idea of what was going on. In spite of the break-up, he knew that John still pined over Randy and he was probably giving Randy what he thought was just a little time now that the other boy was behaving like a human being. Ted hadn't commented but he thought it was a mistake. On the other hand John was capable of making his own mistakes and he had been miserable for a long time. Maybe in this case John was right to give the second chance, Ted didn't know Randy well enough to make any kind of real judgement. 

If John was unavailable for lunch, that left him with Evan and Alex – except that when he went to his locker he could see Evan already chatting to Punk and he smiled a little to himself, it looked like he wasn't getting a look-in there. And of course, everyone already knew about the two of them. He had a sudden stab of jealousy that he tried to dismiss quickly. He wanted his friends to be happy, of course he did, he just wished he could be as open as they were. A part of him reminded him that if he were a little more courageous then he could be... but he thought that caution was the way to go. One date with Cody wasn't exactly a basis to go outing himself and causing himself a whole lot of grief that he didn't have to have. Not that he was sure he'd get too much. It was surprising how much tolerance could be bought when the most openly out couple in school were built like a pair of brick shithouses. And assuming they were back to being a couple of course. 

And that left Alex, of whom there was no sign. Ted was about to reach into his pocket and fish out his phone to call the boy and see if he was free for lunch when a pair of hands covered his eyes.  
“Guess who?”

“Cody!” Ted reached up to yank Cody's hands from his eyes, turning in a hurry and pretending he didn't notice the wounded look on Cody's face. He took a quick look around to see who was watching, but no one seemed to be paying them particular attention. 

“We're supposed to be on the down-low,” he half-whispered agitatedly. 

“It's not like I kissed you,” returned Cody in a low voice, his smile returning. “I just wanted to know if you wanted to eat lunch with me. And if it bothers you so much to be seen with me, you can always bring a book and point to it occasionally, pretend you're tutoring me.”

“Being seen with you doesn't bother me Cody,” said Ted softly. 

“No? Even though we've never been known to hang out together before?”

That was a thought and Ted paused to consider it. “True, but it's not being seen with you that bothers me, not even slightly. I just don't want the rumour mill going to work right now.”

“We picked the right time then,” said Cody, rolling his eyes. “They're still agog about Randy taking John home after the party. So, you wanna eat lunch with me then?”

“Sounds good.” Ted smiled and slammed the locker closed. “How about eating outside?”

“Better than grabbing a table and everyone wondering why we're not sitting with our cliques.” Cody chuckled and fell into step with Ted as they headed to the canteen to grab sandwiches. “Honestly, I've had more questions than I know how to answer and I wasn't even in my first lesson.”

Ted regarded him wide-eyed. “You ditched?”

“I didn't feel like going.” Cody shrugged. “Me and Mike had other things to worry about. He didn't even make it home last night, though he's a lot more focused than when that usually happens.”

“I thought he was with Alex.”

“He was and apparently he stayed the night, though I'm sure nothing much went on.” Cody smirked. “No matter what he says. You can always tell when Mike's making things up.”

“He said that--”

“He was joking Ted, it wasn't as if he was spreading rumours about Alex's virtue.” Cody winked. “In any case, they're supposed to be keeping things on the down-low as well.”

“I never understood the weird thing that was with Mike and Maryse anyway,” said Ted, wrinkling his brow in a way that Cody found oddly adorable. 

“It's a long story.” Cody considered where to start it. “As far as I can work out, their dads are friends and both pretty well-off. They seem to think that uh, joining the families will be good for all concerned. And that Mike can be assured of a high-paid job working for Maryse's folks. They've got some kind of multi-national business, they're never home it seems. Trouble is, Mike and Maryse are both pretty strong willed and I never thought that they'd settle so easily into anything. Maryse might but she pretty much does as she pleases, as you might have heard. And Mike goes along with things for a quiet life, but he'll put his foot down if it goes against what he really wants.”

They walked into the canteen and joined the queue for cold food, Cody glancing around and finding that no one else nearby seemed that interested, too engrossed in their own conversations. “Someone saw 'Ryse with another guy already, outside school. I think she rather liked the idea of being with Mike or at least being the one to do the dumping. So I'm just waiting for the fireworks to happen--”

“Hey, Rhodes!” Someone joined the queue behind them and Ted jumped guiltily when he saw Zack Ryder grinning at them rather knowledgeably. “What's going on with Orton and Cena? You wouldn't believe the rumours I heard and I could put them straight--”

“Tell you what, Zack.” Cody smiled rather sweetly. “If you keep your nose out of everyone else's business, then I won't break it. How 'bout that for a deal?”

“Huh, and I thought Punk was supposed to be the pissy one,” bitched Zack, heading back off to his table. 

“I hate that nosy bastard,” muttered Cody. 

“He's not that bad,” replied Ted cheerily, getting to the front of the queue and ordering ham and salad. “He just wants to know what's happening, doesn't everyone? You're not the only one getting questions. I don't know how many people I've told that it's not my business or theirs.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Cody grinned suddenly. “But if it was us on the outside instead of knowing, wouldn't you be dying of curiosity?”

“I'd be curious, but I don't think I'd be going around asking for details.”

Cody nodded. “Maybe you wouldn't. You've got respect for other peoples privacy. Not me though, I wanna know everything and the gory details are the best.”

“Living vicariously through other people?”

“Something like that.” Cody ordered a salad and a bottle of water, paying for both meals before Ted could object and the pair of them heading outside to find a quiet spot, away from everyone else. It took a few minutes but in the end they had a grassy area they could be alone at and without anyone else in earshot. 

“So...” Cody winked at Ted. “I had a great time last night. I was hoping you'd wanna repeat it some time.”

Ted smiled, a little shyly. “Nothing would make me happier. I can't tonight, the guys and I have a homework thing most Mondays and my folks don't like me staying out too late on a school night anyway, but I think I could escape for a while tomorrow perhaps? After I've been to training?”

“Sounds perfect.” Cody started picking at his salad. “I don't wanna steal all your time or your friends'd lynch me. Or you might get sick of looking at me.”

“I think I can safely say that won't happen.”

Cody looked a little surprised and a whole lot pleased. “I know what we're doing tomorrow. I want your picture on my phone. Lots of them, so while you're earning your grades I can still look at them. Because I'm never gonna get tired of looking at you either.”

“I don't take good pictures--”

Cody made a dismissive sound. “You're very photogenic so don't give me any nonsense and let my artistic side run free. Maybe we can play a little game – I'll be the manipulative photographer and you can be the naïve young model I'm trying to rid of his shirt...”

“Cody!”

Cody laughed. “I'll let you keep the shirt on but I need the pictures. Deal?”

“I suppose that's okay.” Ted looked around and lowered his voice, grinning a little. “Although I might let you talk me into the topless photos.”

Cody looked startled for a moment and then beamed. Suddenly he was very much looking forward to getting his pictures of Ted. 

~:~

John and Randy were late back from their coffee; they got slightly carried away talking about nothing in particular, the way they had always done on such dates in the past. They hadn't mentioned the party, or the state of their relationship and for that John was grateful, he had a lot to think about but what else was new? A part of him, most of him, was desperate to give Randy a second chance. But his pride had the deciding vote so far and it was still too wounded to relent. 

“We're gonna have to sneak back in quickly,” said John doubtfully. 

“Or we could just ditch the rest of the day,” said Randy. 

“I've got Mrs Guerrero this afternoon.”

“Dammit.” There was no way that the old bitch would let John get away with not showing up, she'd probably check all the school cameras to find where he had last been seen and then doctor the evidence to make them look bad. Randy wouldn't put it past her for a moment. 

Randy mulled on it a moment. “I'll boost you over the wall at the side, where the hockey pitch is.” 

“One problem. That wall's so tall that even a lanky bastard like you won't be able to get back over it.”

“I don't have Mrs G this afternoon. And I'm not too bothered about being caught creeping back in either.” Randy grinned. “No point in us both getting into trouble. Now come on!”

John allowed Randy to lead them to the wall, where there were never any teachers on the prowl because it was thought to be too tough to re-enter that way. Randy made a cup with his hands and boosted John up, high enough for John to be able to haul himself over the top – and affording Randy a rather nice close-up of his ass. That alone made it worth the risk. 

“I'll text you later.” John's voice floated over the wall. “Don't get caught!”

“I won't,” replied Randy with a slight grin, a text that night was progress and he was willing to take it. Humming to himself he made his way toward a side entrance which wasn't always patrolled by a teacher at this time and so was probably the safest bet. However, all the boys in school knew that this was their best bet and when Randy rounded the corner to get there, he realised he wasn't the first person to think of sneaking back in. 

It took barely a second to recognise the girl standing at the gate, he had seen her enough times, most recently screaming into his face when she couldn't find her boyfriend at the party. Maryse. His mind went back to the text that Mike had gotten about the 'rat' and he paused where he was, forgetting about getting back to lessons and focusing on the boy she was with instead. At least they might be able to settle their minds about his involvement. 

He didn't recognise the boy at first but it was the hair that gave it away; Randy didn't share a single class with him and they hadn't been friends in their younger years when they were at a nearby school together. But there were few enough people in school who had such violently ginger hair and fewer still who thought it looked cool grown long and yet chopped in the girly style that it was. Heath someone-or-other, who had immediately been christened 'queef' when they were about nine and still occasionally had the nick-name resurrected when he was being a dick. Which Randy had heard was quite often.

But it made no sense. Heath wasn't Maryse's type. He wasn't handsome, not even slightly and even if Heath had a personality worth mentioning that certainly wasn't something that Maryse was likely to take into consideration. She was all about the appearances and Heath wasn't arm candy enough to suit Maryse. He was rich, true, but at their school the vast majority of the kids were and Heath wasn't a standout among them. There were a hundred guys in school who were better looking, richer and with a better car and Maryse had her pick of them. So why the hell was she around him? 

Neither of them saw Randy standing around, they were too busy talking to one another and Randy was a distance away, half-hidden around the corner and caught up in curiosity enough to not want to show himself. Maryse seemed very happy about something though. She leaned forward and kissed Heath lightly on the lips – even from the distance Randy could see the grin on his face and felt almost sorry for the guy. Maryse was out of his league and he knew it, but for once he'd at least managed to get noticed. If he liked Heath even slightly, he would have warned him that Maryse was a barracuda and not to be trusted. But he didn't and was willing to let him find out for himself. 

Maryse stepped away from the gate, carrying something – to John it looked like a folder or file of some kind. Huh. Maybe Heath was doing her homework for her, although he thought that if Maryse was bothered enough to get someone else to help her out, she probably would have just paid someone. But maybe Heath was secretly a genius at something, or daddy wouldn't let her spend her money on someone doing her work for her this time and his price was to be seen with a drop-dead gorgeous girl rather than cash. 

It hardly mattered. As Maryse tripped prettily off to her car, a baby-pink two seat convertible, Heath vanished back inside the school and it occurred to Randy that he needed to haul ass as well – although once Maryse had gone, because he didn't need her seeing him. On the plus side, at least he could tell Mike now who the 'rat' was and set his mind at rest. 

If the news did, of course. Even Randy thought it was odd that Maryse would hang out with Heath, Mike was bound to read something suspicious into it. Randy thought he was just paranoid though, jumpy now that he was standing up for himself. What the hell could be sinister about Heath?


	9. Chapter Eight: Big Ol' Set Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maryse sets her plans into motion and the effects are felt almost immediately.

“Cutting it a little close there John?” Alex grinned slightly as John all but ninja’d across the room to his seat whilst Mrs Guerrero was distracted admonishing some poor schmuck. Considering it was Dolph Ziggler she was talking to though she was most likely not so much telling him off as attempting to flirt with him most obscenely.

Everyone knew what she was like but there was little they could do about it. Besides, Dolph was the kind of guy who revelled in any attention and he probably loved the fact that he got essentially easy grades where she was concerned.

“Time got away from me a little.”

“Have a nice lunch-date?”

John’s cheeks coloured as he levelled Alex with a look, “It wasn’t a date,” he whispered.

Alex winked, “Calm down man I’m just teasing… though you know that’s what everyone else is gonna think when they get wind of it,” which was almost a certainty one way or another.

Sighing, John muttered, “Most of the people in this school need to get a life.”

“I’m sure they’d be heartbroken to hear you say that.”

“Enjoy your lunch?” John asked by way of a hopeful segue.

“Yep thanks. Oh, that reminds me, watch out—Ryder’s looking for you.”

John groaned and his head audibly hit the desk.

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle and patted his shoulder sympathetically.

~::~

The rest of the day passed in a somewhat light-hearted fashion for Punk; he had apparently scored Brownie points with his parents the night before for arriving home in a prompt fashion as he had, and they seemed keen on him continuing interaction with Evan; the improved scores he’d help Punk utilise had obviously won them some merit too--- not that Punk exactly minded that he was being provided with extra reasons why he should spend time with the boy.

He did wonder of course how much that might change if they found out he was dating Evan.

“You guys up to anything tonight?” he asked Mike, Randy and Cody as they headed to their lockers. By some amusing coincidence their lockers were all situation near one another.

Cody pouted, “Cole gave me extra homework.”

“What a dick… think he’s pissed because Jerry won’t give him the time of day?”

“Ewg, Mike! I could do without that particular image, thanks!”

“Oh you love it.”

Punk rolled his eyes and looked to Randy who shrugged, “Not especially.”

“You’re all so very thrilling aren’t you?”

“Well what about you?” Cody challenged lightly, “What are you doing tonight?”

“Never you boys mind; gentlemen don’t tell.”

“That’s because they usually never have anything to tell,” Randy chuckled.

“Say what you want,” Punk joked with great dignity, and then paused, feeling his pocket, “Fuck sake…”

“What is it now?” Mike asked.

“My headphones. I can’t find them; I think I left them in Ms McMahon’s class.”

Stephanie was the daughter of their headmaster and one of their very small number of female teachers. Needless to say she was much easier on the eye and less creepier than Guerrero, and she didn’t take shit from anyone so that also gave her points… Only downside was that she was pretty spoiled, and her husband (some rather built guy who owned a series of successful gyms or something) threw his weight around quite a bit to any boy over fifteen in the vicinity of his wife whenever he came to visit.

“Better go an’ get ‘em before they get chucked in lost and found--- you’ll never see them again otherwise.”

“No kidding. I’ll catch you guys later.”

As his friends headed down one hallway Punk made his way back up the other cursing his absent-mindedness; he never went anywhere without his precious headphones because he never knew when he might need them to assuage his boredom in a lesson or whenever he decided to walk home (which took longer than his usual biking).

As he rounded the corner though he was startled to see both Stephanie and her father talking to--- Alex?

Without really considering what he was about to do Punk shrank back into the alcove, peeking around the corner.

“We’re really very sorry Alex,” Stephanie was saying and she sounded pissed and upset.

Even Vince looked unusually serious, “We don’t know how this has happened.”

Alex was looking so pale he looked like he might keel over any second. His response was so quiet that Punk had to strain to hear it, “They got my whole folder? All of it?”

Father and daughter exchanged a look before Vince nodded.

Alex covered his face with his hand a moment and gave a hard breath, “You promised your files were completely confidential and barely accessible—”

“We’re going to do everything in our power to get the folder back,” Vince said immediately.

Punk frowned; what was in Alex’s folder that was so bad it was such a closely guarded secret? He couldn’t have done anything bad because a) he didn’t seem the type and b) if it was something really terrible no amount of money his father could have forked out would have gotten him into school.

“I don’t…” Alex started.

“We need to contact your father—”

“Don’t bother,” Alex sounded so bitter it was surprising, “He’s not in the country and won’t be home for another week. I’ll tell him when I next talk to him.”

“Alex—“Vince actually was making an attempt at being condoling and that startled Punk; he’d never known the man to be anything but a stickler for his own best interests and those of the school’s reputation, a hard-ass whenever someone did something wrong, “—if you need to speak to our councillor—”

It was as though he was looking at someone wearing Alex’s face as a mask when he looked up to meet Vince’s eyes; Punk didn’t think he’d ever seen someone’s eyes look so empty and cold before.

“What can your councillor tell me that the others haven’t?”

Punk sensed the conversation coming to an end and decided to just get his headphones back tomorrow, but as he walked away he noted that neither Stephanie nor Vince had an answer for him.

~::~

To say Kelly and Layla had been surprised by the sudden invitation to stay at Maryse’s place wouldn’t be an understatement and not just because she wasn’t hosting any kind of event wherein she could afford to show off to her fellow girlies, but also because it was a school-night and she didn’t even have her best friend (i.e. top tagalong) Eve stay over on school-nights.

“What’s this about Maryse?” Layla asked, still somewhat pouting to herself; she had tried lingering by the boys’ school that afternoon when they had been let out, but to her annoyance she hadn’t seen Ted, and she hadn’t noticed his car in the student parking on queuing to get onto the main roads either.

“Yeah,” Kelly nodded, sitting down; she was still clad in the loose clothing she had worn for her dance lesson that afternoon.

Maryse merely smirked and got up to ensure her bedroom door was securely closed before then closing the blinds to her large veranda-leading-to windows in a covert fashion before clicking a bedside lamp on. All in all it was clear she was setting up a mood and Kelly and Layla both exchanged looks; there had better be a point to all of this, that was all they could say.

When the boring looking bog-standard manila folder was thrown down onto the little coffee-table that Maryse had in the centre of her room before the large, wall-mounted television set, neither girl really knew what to make of it.

And then they saw the name embossed across the top:

Alexander Riley

Kelly gaped, “Is this…?”

“Oui,” Maryse looked well and truly smug.

“But how?” Layla whispered with grudging admiration as she reached out to pick up the folder.

When Maryse’s hand lightly slapped hers the British girl retracted it quickly with a confused and pissed off look. Maryse however looked annoyingly unperturbed, “Non,” she said flatly, “First I must check in with our other plan.”

“What other plan?”

Maryse looked at Kelly as though she was dim, “The one wherein you said zat we needed someone to come een and make an attempt on Orton, non?”

“You found someone?” Layla asked, wondering which girl had been duped (or was foolhardy) enough to try and get in between what appeared to be the Cena/Orton potential reunion.

“You shall see,” Maryse said mysteriously, dialling a number on her phone.

~::~

Arriving home to find Maria Kanellis on his doorstep immediately put Randy on high alert.

Maria, personality wise, seemed like a tolerable enough girl and was indeed one that Randy didn’t mind since Mickie seemed to like her, but her downside was that she apparently had no morals whatsoever when it came to sexual relationships.

She had approached Randy numerous times in the past, when he had been single and when he hadn’t, and he had thought she’d finally gotten the message when John came into the picture… She hadn’t made any attempt on him in all of that time, or since their annoyingly well-publicised break-up so he couldn’t understand why she was there now.

The redhead was still clad in her demin-shorts/animal-print jacket ensemble, and though she wasn’t looking up at him Randy would know her anywhere.

“Maria?”

The girl looked up and Randy wanted to swear; she was crying.

If there was one thing in life that Randy couldn’t handle it was people crying.

In the back of his mind he did wonder why she would be at his house of all places when she was upset (surely there were lots of men who’d offer her shoulders to cry on, and ways to cheer her up afterwards?) but the thought was chased back to secondary consideration when he was confronted by Maria collapsing into a fresh bout of sobs.

“Oh Randy, it’s awful, just awful!”

“Uh—“uncomfortably aware that some of his neighbours might see her sobbing all over him Randy did the first thing that came to mind: invited her in away from prying eyes and into familiar surroundings to try and make himself feel more comfortable.

“Are—are you parents home?” she sniffled as Randy led her to the kitchen.

“No, not yet…” Randy muttered, wondering how he could send her on her way--- and then being distracted when his phone buzzed in his pocket, alerting him to a message. From John.

However his jubilation at this development was short-lived when he heard the sound of a zipper lowering.

With wide-eyes he regarded the scene in front of him as he looked up: underneath the tight hoody Maria was wearing nothing but a bright coloured bra, and given how low those shorts were Randy had the horrible feeling that she wasn’t wearing anything under them.

Most men would have been jumping for joy at such a turn of events, but Randy?

He couldn’t have thought the timing was worse… and he was admittedly five seconds away from an uncharacteristic panic; what if John heard about this? His second chance would be all over!

~:~ 

“Zip yourself back up Maria,” he said harshly. He might have been less brusque in the past when he and John were dating and he knew that John would laugh it off when he repeated it later, trusted him when he said that nothing had happened – but things had changed and he was sure that he couldn't tell John this time. How would he explain that Maria had waited on his doorstep, walked into his house and started stripping? If nothing else, John would find it highly suspicious and probably wouldn't believe him when he said that she had not been one of his rebound conquests. 

Maria didn't, instead shrugging off the jacket and standing before him in just the shorts and bra. Randy shot a vaguely interested look at her cleavage but it was pure habit; he really didn't care very much and there was something about the situation that made him more panicked than horny. Other men might appreciate the thought of an attractive young woman strolling into the house and starting to strip, Randy himself might have done a week or so before but he was determined that John would be his again and this setback was certainly not needed. 

He hooked his foot under the jacket and kicked it into the air, catching it in one hand and holding it out to her. “Put your clothes back on. I mean it.” Inspiration hit. “My parents are due home any minute.”

“Then maybe we should head off to your room then.” Maria gave a bright smile that belayed that she had been crying earlier – or had she? Given how quickly things had changed, Randy was no longer certain of anything. 

“No,” he snapped. “I don't want to see what you've got, I'm not interested. It's nothing I haven't seen before and I've got better waiting for me, if I can ever get ready to go see him. I don't want you, I'm not interested, get lost.” He tried to think of some threat, something that would get her out of his house. “This is sexual harassment y'know.”

Maria burst out laughing. “Oh shit Randy, I would never have expected you to pull out that crap.” She winked, gliding toward him. “Though it's not your brain I'm interested in.” She batted aside the hoody that Randy was holding out for her and when his attention went to it, she gave his crotch a cheerful squeeze. It certainly attracted his attention and given that he was a healthy teenage boy, raised a reaction from him that he hadn't actually wanted. 

“Stop that!” He slapped her hand away in a hurry, dropping the hoody. “Don't touch me and don't think that just because you're a girl, I won't drag you out of the house myself!”

“Or you could just put me across your knee and spank me for being such a bad girl.”

“Shit, what kind of pornos do you watch? That's the cheesiest dialogue I ever heard.” Randy snorted. “I don't want to spank you, but I'll tell you what. You have exactly one minute to get the hell out of my house before I drag you out by your hair.”

“You're really going to drag me out of your house? Half-naked?”

Shit, she had a point. “Fine, I'll call your parents.”

“You have their number in your phone?” Maria tossed her hair impetuously. “Besides, why would they believe that I just walked in here and started taking off my clothes?”  
Randy had to admit, he was a bit lost there. 

“Why are we fighting?” Maria smiled again, idly playing with the zipper on her shorts. “Let's just get down to it. It can be our little secret, I won't tell a soul – I need something right now Randy and you're just the man to give it to me.”

I won't tell.

Our little secret.

Yeah, and the last time he'd heard those words were from the mouth of a certain exchange student who'd gotten drunk at his leaving party and opened his mouth to the wrong person, causing John to leave him. Randy wasn't about to let that happen again. 

“No. Get out. Now.”

Maria looked more puzzled than anything else, even though it wasn't her first rejection from Randy. “I'm offering you me, no strings. You can't be serious about this.”

“I am. Leave.”

~:~

John had been almost home when his phone bleeped and he grinned, knowing that the message was probably from Randy. He fished it from his pocket and frowned slightly as the name that came up read Maryse; he couldn't even remember why he might have her number. He didn't think she had ever used it – no, he was lying, once to invite him to a party when he and Randy were still going out. It was one of those numbers that hung around on his phone unused and ignored for the most part and he had no idea why she might be using it now. 

When he opened the message, it wasn't even for him. 

Randy – tell Maria to spit your dick out and answer the phone. I need to talk to her.

John stared unbelievingly at the message for long moments, trying to take the implications in. That Maryse would send him a message intended for Randy was maybe a little strange, but he was probably in a folder with Mike's friends or soemthing like that. He didn't care, it didn't matter. What mattered was that it sounded like Maryse knew Randy was doing something he had faithfully promised John he wouldn't be doing again.

He let his eyes run over the message again. Dimly the thought of a trick occurred but he didn't even know Maryse, why the hell would she want to pull something like that? She certainly wouldn't care who Randy was fucking unless it was her. 

Gritting his teeth a moment, John sent a rather terse message to Randy, waited exactly thirty seconds for a response and when he didn't get one started to run, racing to Randy's house as fast as he was able, thinking of nothing more than catching his former lover in the act. His pride wasn't sure it could take the blow, but it made no difference what happened afterwards. 

He had to know for sure.

~:~

Randy was at the end of his patience. Maria was refusing to put her hoody back on and had continued with the porn talk, the kind of thing that had come directly from some erotica or possibly an on-line home movie. Certainly none of it had yet managed to rev Randy's engine and to be honest, there wasn't much that didn't get Randy well and truly ready for a quick roll. Then again, even if she had been an expert at seduction instead of clumsy and slightly desperate, he wouldn't have allowed himself to succumb. He had John to think about and bitter experience had taught him that there was no one who turned him on the way that his former lover did, not to mention that he missed John as his friend as well. Fucks were over quickly but he had learned the hard way that there were other, more important things that lasted and he wasn't about to lose what little progress he'd managed to make by taking the easy offer. 

“I'll get on my knees for you,” Maria said in a little-girl voice, something that Randy had never found exactly endearing. And in any case, Maria seemed to be reaching for some dirty talk now and it made Randy wonder just how much experience she really had; in this area it didn't seem to be much and she really wasn't any good at it, although he amended that with a little practice she could probably win over more or less anyone. Not him though. “I'll get on all fours and I'll keep it to myself. No one ever has to know--”

Those words again and Randy shook his head. “No! How many times do I have to say it? Put on your top or else you can go face the neighbourhood with your tits hanging out.”

Rather than dress, Maria got a determined look on her face and started to lower the zipper on her shorts with far more intent than the playful way she had behaved earlier. That was enough for Randy. He grabbed her upper arms, gaining a smile that quickly turned to indignation when he turned her around and propelled her toward the door, rushing her more quickly than she wanted to go.

“Randy, stop – you asshole, cut it out! Stop pushing me!”

“Get out!”

Maria yelled something else that Randy didn't listen to, getting her to the door and when she didn't open it, reaching past her to open it himself. He hustled her onto the step, hoping that no one heard the way she was yelling and carrying on at him and decided to take a look. He was all too aware that it didn't look good for him, shoving a half-naked girl out of his house, but he was past caring. He just wanted her gone. 

She stood on the step, turning to shout at him again. He shoved the hoody against her chest, expecting her to take hold of it considering they were outside. She instead ignored it, starting to rant about his ingratitude and he tried counting to ten, one of the tricks they taught him in anger management. It was supposed to reset his dials so he had a chance to reconsider his responses and act more appropriately. The trouble being the explosive part of his disorder; he tended to be relatively in control until the moment that he wasn't and then it was too late to count to ten. In a count of ten he could have done plenty of damage, fortunately rarely to people – but Maria was really pushing his buttons...

“You need to treat me with a little more respect--”

“Put your clothes on and fuck off!”

“The hell with you, I don't have to do what you tell me!”

“Fuck off!” Randy tried to force the hoody on her again, pushed her a little too hard. Maria stumbled backward a step, fell off the step and landed on her ass at the bottom of the steps, the hoody dropping on the step. 

And John chose that moment to come running up the drive. 

Randy had been on the verge of blowing his stack, yelling and shouting and possibly breaking something, but the sight of his ex racing toward him dissipated his rage in a moment, leaving only a sick, dismal dread. He knew how it had to look to anyone who might just have arrived on the scene. There was bad and then there was this, a girl barely dressed just fallen into the mud and he on the step, clearly having caused her to land there.

John was panting, clearly having just run all the way there but Randy didn't have the time to consider why he might be there or what might have made him need to be there so urgently. Instead he opened his mouth to say something, anything, to explain things. He didn't know how. All the sentences that ran through his head were inadequate, they sounded like lies.   
John had slowed as he approached, taking his time to take in the whole scene. Maria on her ass, barely dressed. Randy standing above her, fists clenched. It didn't look good. No matter how it was justified, there was no way that John would be able to reconcile a way for this shit to look innocent. 

“ASSHOLE!” screamed Maria, oblivious to John's presence, slapping the ground with both palms. “I can't believe you did this to me!”

John met Randy's eyes and even from the distance, Randy thought he could see the pain in them. And then John simply turned, his shoulders slightly slumped as he took a few steps away.   
Randy would lose him again. 

“You know me!” he shouted, silencing Maria who hadn't even seen John turn up, her focus on the man who'd rejected her. John paused a moment and Randy knew that he'd been heard. 

“You know me John,” he said rapidly, knowing that if John walked now then there were no explanations that would be listened to, he would never get the chance again. “You know I would never do anything to harm a woman, you know that. You know me. Better than anyone else does. I know this is a hell of a scene to walk into but you know me and if you give me a chance to explain...” He shook his head. “This isn't what it looks like.”

And didn't that sound suspicious?

John turned again, and his expression was pissed off. “What's it like then?”

“You know how long it takes me to walk back from school,” said Randy. “You know I didn't take my car today. You know I haven't had chance to do shit. I haven't had chance to take a shit, it's not been long enough. So you know I wasn't screwing around with her.”

“You're a shit,” snarled Maria, getting to her feet and picking up her hoody. She was slightly grubby from her fall but it wasn't too bad, not the way it might have been had it rained lately. “You'll never see me again, screw you Randy Orton! You had your chance and you blew it!”

“For the last time, get lost!” Randy turned his attention from Maria immediately. “John, please. You can see for yourself it's not exactly likely there's anything happening.”

John looked torn and Randy remained quiet – when John was making up his mind he could be a contrary bastard and if he was pushed, he might take off altogether. But in the end he took a step forward, Maria storming past him and pulling on her hoody at the same time. Her anger seemed to make up John's mind because he stepped into the house. Randy was grateful. His temper was still there, bubbling under the surface and had John left, there could have been serious consequences. And his parents could be understanding when he did lose his temper but they were never very happy about the property damage or the damage limitation to Randy's psyche that followed one of his episodes. 

They headed into the kitchen, so recently evacuated by the woman Randy had wanted rid of so badly. Now that they were there, Randy was a little uncertain what to say. “Drink?”

Wordlessly, John pulled his phone out and pressed a couple of buttons before thrusting it at Randy. Randy took it and read the message, his eyes widening. “Wow. Our little secret indeed.”

“Don't you dare make light of this,” growled John and Randy could see that he was still actively furious and genuinely upset, almost tearful if John had been the kind who cried easily. “What the fuck was that?”

“I wish I knew!” Randy put the phone on the table as if the message had disgusted him. “I got home and she was on the step, she looked like she'd been crying and you know I don't know how to react when girls do that. So I let her in and the next thing I know she's taking off her top and talking like something out of Naughty Nurses Nine and I didn't know what the hell to do!”

“I know of a few things that crossed your mind,” said John coldly. 

“Trust me, the only thing that was on my mind was how to get rid of her and if and how I was gonna tell you about it.” 

“What do you mean, if?”

“Because it's so weird and because I'm really trying to give you reason to trust me and how does this look? She kept saying that no one had to know and I kept telling her to leave and she was really pushy.”

“And I suppose that was too much of a turn-off?” 

“Something like that. I wasn't interested in the first place, when someone's crying it's like taking advantage anyway and in any case, I was only thinking about you!”

John nodded, but he didn't look convinced. “So you tried to let her down gently and what, you had no choice but to drag her out of the house and throw her down the stairs?”

“Wow,” said Randy softly. “If you believe that, then maybe you really don't know me very well.”

John sighed. “I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't do that, but when I got here, she was on her ass half-naked and I can't think of how else it might have happened. “

Randy frowned and looked down, clearly not pleased with himself. “She just wouldn't leave. Every time I told her to go, she just kept on saying the same things over and over. I tried all kinds, but she just laughed and when I told her I'd throw her out, she didn't believe me. I just couldn't think of a way to get her out, so I grabbed her arms and pushed her out of the house. She wasn't wearing her top and so I was trying to give it to her and she wouldn't take it, so I ended up pushing her off the step. She just fell over. I swear, that's what happened. That was when you got here...” He clenched his fists again. “Don't you think it's a bit convenient? You get a message meant for me while Maria's suddenly over here, I haven't even spoken to her in ages. Don't you think it's odd?”

“Why would Maryse care?”

“Maybe she's getting back at me for not telling her where Mike was the other night.”

“Oh, come on. She's not that vindictive, not over something so petty.”

Randy shrugged. He was inclined to agree with the summary but it was still very strange that Maryse had texted John instead of him. “Maybe Kelly's still pissed at me, maybe she put them up to it.”

“You've got a high opinion of how much you annoyed them. Kelly doesn't like Maryse even slightly, she said as much at the party. And she's not one of Maria's friends. I don't see any of them in cahoots just to cause trouble for us.”

“Something's happening,” repeated Randy stubbornly. “You have to believe me. I never led Maria on, not even for a moment, not even before we were together. She's not my type, she's too giddy for me. I had no idea she'd be here and I didn't so much as kiss her today.”

“No? Did you grope her?”

“Nope.”

“Did she grope you?”

“...Yeah. But only for a second and I pushed her hands away in a hurry. Please, that's really what happened!” Randy moistened his lips with his tongue. “You believe me, right?”

John sighed again. “I don't know Randy. At one time I would have but now? You're not exactly trustworthy and this is just too much to believe someone's trying to set you up.” He raised his hand when Randy tried to protest. “Look, it's not that I don't believe you either. I just need to think about this. I need to think about us. I mean, it's none of my business what you do with Maria. We're not together.”

“It is your business,” said Randy firmly. “Because you know I want you back and you gave me the rules for that. So you have to know I wouldn't do anything to harm that.”

“Maybe.” John shrugged. “I need time to think this over Randy.”

He started for the door, Randy walking behind him. “I'm telling the truth John,” he said quietly. 

“I know that you probably are,” said John without looking at him. “But after everything, I need to think about this. I need to think about whether or not I trust you because if I don't, then what's the point?”

He left without saying another word and Randy closed the door behind him, his hands balling into fists. He didn't know what was happening or why, but he didn't think it was a coincidence. And if he found that Maryse was dragging him into some fucked-up plan to get Mike back (although it was an odd way to go about it) then he was going to yank out every one of the bitches hair extensions and to hell with his policy of never hitting a girl.

~::~

“You are shitting me,” Cody gasped in awe down the phone. At his side Ted looked up from his Geometry homework with a curious expression on his face. Cody had managed to convince Ted to come over for a little while before tea time, though the blonde had refused to budge on bringing his homework with him, though Cody personally let the matter go when Ted insisted he needed to get started then so he could just finished after his tea. Personally however, he had the feeling that Ted probably wouldn’t have been allowed out of the house before the family meal-time if he hadn’t had work with him.

“I wish I was,” Randy mumbled.

The rejection, misery and frustration in his friend’s voice was so poignant it tugged at Cody’s heartstrings a little; he had never advocated Randy cheating on John, because cheating was wrong, but he had completely and utterly backed-up and believed Randy when he had claimed that it meant nothing. It was pretty obvious when you looked at how he had been with Justin to John.

There was just no comparison, dude.

“I’m sorry Randy,” Cody said honestly, “Is there anything I could do to help?”

“Pay for me to get a temporary sex-change so I can go kick their girly asses without being considered a woman beater and arrested?”

Lips twitch lightly Cody apologetically reminded him that those probably weren’t temporary procedures.

“Well shit.”

“Yeah… Seriously man, is there anything I can do?”

“Nah,” Randy lamented, “Not unless you can go back in time and stop my dumb-ass drinking enough to cause myself all of this fucking grief in the first place.”

“I’m not the Dr Who fan.”

“Should I call Mike instead?”

“I’m sure he’d be thrilled.”

In the background Cody heard what he knew to be Randy’s brother Nate’s voice, telling him to get downstairs before mom blew her lid about them not sitting down to eat together.

Randy sighed heavily, told his brother to sod off and that he was coming, and then he addressed Cody, “I gotta go.”

“OK Rand,” Cody said soothingly, “Don’t let this get you though OK? You can get past this—“he trailed off when Randy muttered something barely audible and then hung up on him.

“Is everything OK?” Ted asked lightly, and Cody appreciated the way that he at least acted as though he hadn’t pretty much heard the entirety of what was supposed to be a private conversation between two best friends concerning one of his best friends.

“Randy was set up.”

“What?” Ted’s brow furrowed, “Like, on a date?”

For a moment Cody looked at Ted as though he had grown a second head and then he seemed to realise something, hastily shaking his head, “No! No way, he’s hung up on John anyway, no matter what the rebound shags looked like but—gah, I need to focus!” the clearly riled ravenette told his blonde boyfriend (at least he hoped he could count Ted as his boyfriend even if he couldn’t exactly tell his parents about him yet) about what had happened.

When he finished Ted looked strangely pensive and Cody wondered whether he had made a mistake; reflexively Ted would probably side with what the situation probably looked like instead of giving Randy the benefit of the doubt that he deserved.

After all the drunken (and, yes, even teary) ranting and lamenting Randy had done over John, Cody knew that his recents efforts to get back into his good books were not something he’d jeopardise with a ride on the village bike that was Maria.

“It is fishy.”

Automatically Cody jumped to Randy’s defence, “Oh come on! He’s never had anything to do with Maria and--- wait, sorry, what did you say?”

Ted looked almost amused for a moment and then he looked troubled again, “I said it is fishy what happened.”

Far too coincidental and not in the good way.

The hearty smooch that Cody levelled upon him startled Ted and made him blush right to the tips of his ears, “W-What was that for?”

“You looked at the situation fairly,” Cody smiled, genuinely pleased, “You didn’t just write Randy off.” He didn’t say that in his own way Ted had the right to do so given his friendship with John, but the words admittedly hung in the air between them anyway.

“I was just thinking… Isn’t Maria the girl that, well…”

“Everyone’s docked their cocks in?”

“CODY!”

Cody didn’t look in the least bit contrite, “Why bandy words Teddy? She’s a whore and she always has been. Chances are she always will be too.”

“But still… she is a lady.”

A snort left the other, “In gender only.”

Realising that this conversation was likely to just travel around in the same circles without reaching a conclusion Ted then asked, “But how did John know to go to Randy’s house?” from what he had told Cody, and what Cody had then told Ted, Randy had been too focused on trying to get Maria out of his house to contact John--- especially when there was every chance something could go wrong, as it did, should he get in touch with him and John headed over there.

“I dunno… Randy doesn’t either.”

He’d pretty much just said that one moment he was thinking about John and the next he was there.

“It just… well, I don’t see why Maryse would set him up—”

“Really now? Did you never actually meet her before?”

“Not for longer than an introduction, no,” Ted conceded a little uncomfortably; he didn’t like relying on gossip to find out about people but in a lot of cases it was inevitable… especially when said girl was forever being talked about and noticed.

“She’s a mean, greedy, self-centred bitch.”

“Cody—”

“She makes me look like Mother Theresa,” Cody said dryly and he knew he was nowhere near saint level.

“You’re not that bad.”

Despite himself, Cody smiled, “You think?”

Briefly Ted smiled back, “Of course,” his smile then slipped into a more sober expression again, “Why can’t people just leave them alone to work things out?”

Sighing, Cody rested his head against Ted’s strong shoulder, just resting it there.

For a moment Ted seemed surprised by the action but didn’t push him away, merely draped a shy arm around Cody’s shoulders and allowed it to remain there.

“Because then their lives would be boring again without the drama.”

“Don’t they have soap operas for that kind of thing?”

“What better soap opera is there than life?”

Of course he would never regard Cody as stupid but in that moment Ted didn’t think he had ever heard the somewhat younger man sounding so wise, sad and even a little bit bitter all at one. Unsure what more he could say (and unable to shake the bad feeling that accompanied the situation Cody had described to him) Ted merely gave Cody’s shoulders a gentle squeeze and rested his head atop Cody’s which said more than he could have done through mere verbalisations.

~::~

Back at home John had barricaded himself into his room.

All of his family, embarrassingly, had been home at the time and he’d had to keep his head down to prevent them from seeing the tears that had been welling in his eyes.

Slumping down onto his bed once his door was secure John let out a yell of annoyance and frustration, muffling the sound carefully into his pillow, absently considering for a moment that he might rip the item in half should he pull it any tighter. That or he would accidentally suffocate himself.

And wouldn’t that be a way to go concerning all the kink rumours of him and Randy?

Even the mere thought of Randy made John’s chest hurt.

He’d been stupid to try and get involved again.

You don’t know that it didn’t happen like he said it did!

He’s not good looking enough to have random people throwing themselves at him like she did, stripping half-naked!

He’s never hit a woman in his life and you know that. And how can you trust Maria’s intentions over Randy’s explanation when she’s made a move on you before?

Absently John wondered whether smashing his head off of a solid surface would be enough to shut up his subconscious. The fact he was even considering it showed how messed up he was feeling.

He didn’t want to believe that the past week had been nothing but some cruel joke on Randy’s part to merely engage John as a bed-partner again but at the same time he couldn’t let go of the feeling that this was precisely what was happening to him at that current moment in time.

On his bedside table his phone sat, silent.

What was he waiting for?

It wasn’t as though he wanted Randy to call him or anything.

Because he didn’t.

Not one little bit.

This silence just proved he was in the wrong---

“Why won’t you just call me you asshole!”

John placed his forehead in his hands; he was definitely going mental, he thought wanly, I’m shouting at inanimate objects as though they can answer me or something.

~::~

“So it worked?”

“Oh yeah,” Maria’s voice came over the loudspeaker of Kelly’s phone, “They were in some huge fight when I left.”

“Perfect,” Kelly clapped her hands together excitedly, bouncing up and down a little.

She was sorry if John did get hurt by this, but at the end of the day it was for his own good.

“Oui,” Maryse said pointedly, “This is very good. Now we can move onto other matters. Merci Maria.”

“It’s cool,” Maria drawled, “Bye,” and then she hung up, much to Maryse’s annoyance.

The French-Canadian liked to be the one to end calls, control situations and get the last word in.

“So that’s John taken care of,” Layla said lightly, eyes on the folder still sitting on Maryse’s coffee-table. Since they had first read the stunning contents within they had closed it back up and left it right where it was, “And you’ve got what you need on Mike’s boy-toy to win him back. Good for you.”

“What is it Lay?” Kelly asked.

“It’s a little difficult not to notice that I’m the only one not getting anything thus far.”

“What would you have us do?” Maryse asked.

“I need Rhodes out of the picture.”

“Can’t you just seduce Ted?” Kelly asked as though it could be that simple, when she herself had proved not a few nights before that it was far from simple.

“He’s a minister’s son Kelly! I probably couldn’t get near him,” of course she wasn’t doubting her own technique.

“Well that’s simple,” Maryse said, flipping her hair from her face.

“Oh?” Layla arched a brow, unable to help a slight sneer, “And how’s that?”

Maryse didn’t either notice or care that the other woman was squaring up to her a little.

“You need to get to ees parents. Get to ees parents and ee’ll fall into place.”

When the other girls exchanged looks Maryse threw her hands into the air in frustration, “What is the one zing our parents care about zee most where we are concerned?”

“Marriage?”

“Precisely; who we intend to marry. I suggest you start outlining zee marriage contract, Layla.”

~::~

“Mike… We have to talk.”

“Jeez Punk! What’re you doing here?”

Mike set his pen down as Punk easily climbed in through his friend’s easily accessible windows; Mike’s parents had to know that their son used it to sneak out and his friends to sneak in, and yet they never did anything about it. If it wouldn’t get the police and courts involved about his human rights Punk was sure his would probably place metal bars around his windows.

“I just told you,” Punk jumped neatly over the windowsill, “We need to talk.”

“You couldn’t have rung, or text?”

“It was too important for that.”

Mike’s smile slid slightly as he considered his friend; it wasn’t easy to make Punk look uncomfortable, let alone to the obvious degree he was feeling it right then. He looked almost as though he couldn’t believe himself… and if there was one thing Punk was notorious for believing in, it was himself.

“You want to lay Bourne?” Mike joked awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood.

He knew he’d failed at the black look Punk sent him.

Sheepishly ducking his head Mike motioned for Punk to make himself comfortable on the armchair in his room as he got up and locked his door; it wouldn’t do for one of his family members to come waltzing in the way they were wont to do.

“So… What is it?”

“You need to sit down.”

“Dude seriously, if this is a lecture about my drinking habits—”

“I’m not here about them, though we should talk about that.”

“Thanks but no thanks, so—”

“This is about Alex.”

Almost instantaneously Mike shut his mouth, something that Punk had anticipated happening and yet was glad of nonetheless, though he did feel a small smidgeon of guilt over the fact that the other looked immediately looked panicked.

“Is something wrong? Has something happened to him?”

“No,” Punk started and then paused, furrowing his brow, “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?” Mike demanded, “What the hell is going on?”

Finally getting annoyed with his own hesitation Punk took a calming breath and it occurred to Mike to take two cans from the mini-fridge he had across his room and handed one over. He opened his but didn’t take a drink whereas Punk drained a good half of the can in one.

“Right… Don’t interrupt me, OK?”

In record time Punk gave Mike a low-down on what he’d heard from Alex, Stephanie and Vince when he’d stayed behind at school.

Silence, thick and heavy descended between them. It was a rare occasion indeed when “Motormouth” Miz Mizanin couldn’t think of anything to say.

And then, finally:

“Someone stole his school file? Why would they even do that?”

For a second Punk wanted to smack the other upside the head; that was the first thing he focused on after all he’d been told?

“Mike, seriously, don’t you see?”

“No,” Mike said sullenly, “I don’t see.” He reached for his mobile phone and brought up his contacts, “I’m going to call Alex.”

“No!” Punk grabbed his hand and forced it down, “Clearly it’s something he doesn’t want anyone to know!”

Immediately Mike tried to shrug him off, sneering somewhat, “How bad can it be in your school file?”

“Mike, use your head! Anything and everything that has ever happened to us is in those files!”

That seemed to register with his friend.

“I need to talk to him about this,” Mike murmured.

Although Punk could see his thinking neither could deny that they weren’t especially that good where the whole ‘tactfulness’ thing was to be brought into play.

“Just wait it out man… If he wants you to know, he’ll tell you.”

Mike stilled; why wouldn’t Alex tell him about this? Even in a text or just one of those ten minute calls to allow himself to vent, why hadn’t he told him?

What the hell was on Alex’s file?

~::~

The moment that Punk left, Mike was on the phone to Alex. For a moment he thought that Alex wasn't going to answer, that maybe he was in bed sleeping but just as he thought the answer service was about to come on, Alex's voice sounded in his ear. 

“Mike!” Alex sounded pleased to hear from him but Mike thought he didn't seem quite as pleased as he had done the day before. As if there was something on his mind – and from what Punk had said, there certainly was. “Sorry, I was in the other room. Is everything okay?”

“Sure,” said Mike casually. “I just felt like hearing your voice.”

“You're hearing it,” returned Alex, apparently amused. “How's things?”

“Fine,” said Mike, wondering if he should share what Punk had told him. On the balance, he decided not to. After all, Alex hadn't actually offered any information about what had gone on and call him old-fashioned but Mike would rather that Alex confided in him of his own accord. Of course, it Alex decided not to say anything then Mike might bring it up, but he wanted to give Alex that chance to tell him what the hell was in that file that had freaked him out so much. 

But on the balance of probabilities, he might not say anything. He hadn't known Mike that long after all. 

“How are you doing?” he countered. 

“I'm cool,” said Alex breezily. But Mike thought that Alex didn't sound all that fine. 

“Do you want me to come over again?” he asked on a whim. He hadn't planned on doing, he'd imagined spending the evening at home maybe doing some homework. But after what Punk had said, he was worried. Not just about why Alex was so freaked out about his records going missing, but also because Alex was alone over there and if there was something seriously wrong, he'd be going through it alone. 

“It's okay...” Alex trailed off and Mike could imagine him standing in the living room, maybe leaning against the wall with his phone in his hand, struggling with himself. 

“Would you be allowed?” Alex asked after a pause, sounding almost hopeful. 

Mike couldn't resist that tone, almost a plea. And Alex was going through... well, something, all on his own. Maybe he wouldn't open up right away but Mike didn't think that whatever was in Alex's file could be that bad, no matter what Punk had said. He believed his friend completely but he also thought that sometimes people over-reacted when faced with something that seemed massive to them but trivial to everyone else. 

“Yeah, I'm allowed,” he said, although he didn't add that he intended to say he was heading to Maryse's house, since his parents had no idea they were through and they never minded that. “I can be with you in half an hour, if you're happy with that.”

“Great,” said Alex in a cheery voice. “Maybe bring a change of clothes?”

“Will do,” said Mike, a part of him wondering if he could lure Alex into the shower with him and the other half scolding himself for having such a thought. “See you soon.” 

He ended the call and started considering his clothes for the next day, not allowing himself as long as he usually would. Black jeans, always a good bet. A shirt. He shoved a fresh fedora on his head and remembered to throw underpants and socks into the bag before he headed out of his room, almost crashing straight into his sister. 

“Going somewhere?”

Damn, what was it about siblings that made them infuriating? “Yeah, I'm going out for the night.”

Toni smirked. “Anyone I know?”

“Dammit, please don't do this. Can't you just cover for me?”

“Hey, I'll keep my mouth shut about your uh, girl situation. But you owe me Michael, you owe me big.”

“How big? Like, doing your homework for you big?”

“Do my homework? Oh please, I've seen your grades.” Toni snorted without losing the grin. “Trust me, you'll know when I need a favour. And say hi to Alex for me.”

“You're assuming I'm going to Alex's...”

“You've got that stupid smile on your face you have when you're around him. Big sisters always know.” Toni knocked his fedora askew and chuckled as Mike hurried to right it. “Go on, get out of here.”

“Thanks!” Mike headed off in a hurry, hoping that he and Toni had no reason to grass him up before he could think of a way to break it to his parents without losing his trust fund, or before Maryse found some way to...

Maryse. The connection that Punk had hinted at came to him and he stopped mid-way down the stairs, frowning. Could she have had something to do with the missing file? She was certainly capable of stealing something private in order to learn something about a person, but Mike reluctantly dismissed the idea. When would she have been able to get it? A girl would stand out a mile in their all-boys school, particularly one that looked like Maryse and although she had been seen around that day by Christian, he didn't think that she would have been able to get on campus, get into the off-limits areas and steal it. He would have to assume that she knew nothing about it. 

~:~

Ted DiBiase Senior was rather surprised when he went to check if there was anyone still in the church proper and found Layla El there. Not because he didn't know her, he did, but there were no activities scheduled for her age group that night. There were others for teens at other times in the week, usually best described as being semi-regularly attended, and there was a group meeting that night but it was for mothers with younger children and Layla was hardly likely to fit into that category for a few years, or so he devoutly hoped. 

“Layla?”

Layla looked around, seeming a little surprised herself. “Oh, hello there Mr DiBiase. Sorry, are you closing up in here? I'll leave.”

“There's no need, I can wait a while longer.” Curiosity got the better of him. “We don't usually see you tonight.”

“I just needed to think,” said Layla with a slightly rueful smile. “About the future. I think better here, I don't know if it's because of the quiet or because it's closer to God.”

“Maybe both.” Senior smiled back at her. “It's a big year for you no doubt, deciding what to do once high school is done with.”

“Yes,” replied Layla. “Although I was thinking of other things too. It's not so easy for a girl to think she'll go off to college and determine a career. I think it would be nice to settle down a little. After all, when I get married I'll be at home with the children more than I'll be working. I was just questioning what the important consideration was and I think it's the long term – I always saw myself getting the whole work thing out of my system early by working to put my husband through college and then when he established himself, he would be the one working and that would leave me time to raise our family.” 

She looked a little embarrassed, as if she hadn't meant to say so much and Senior let his smile become reassuring. “There's a lot to admire in that philosophy – the thought of partnerships and working together, the determination to be equal, giving and expecting the same, planning for the long-term future. But this is the twenty-first century and there's no reason at all why you shouldn't consider a career of your own, or your own goals. It's better at your age to look at all the options open to you and go for the highest that you can.”

“That's true as well.” Layla shrugged. “It's just that I always envisioned myself having a more traditional family unit, like yours.”

Senior nodded; it was true that his own wife devoted her time to family and church and hadn't worked since before the boys were born. “There's nothing wrong with that, if that's what you want. But life doesn't always go as we planned or hoped and an alternative is wise. In any case, do you have a young man at the moment?”

Layla looked demurely at the floor. “I have been hoping to catch the eye of one boy for a long time now – but so far he hasn't noticed me and I don't think I have the confidence to be any more forward. In any case, it's rather vulgar for a lady to do so, isn't it?”

“It certainly can be, pushed too far,” admitted Senior, although his mind wasn't really on the problem of female flirtation. He had seen Layla watching his middle son more than once and was sure that he knew just who was on her mind. “But boys can be oblivious, especially teenage boys – trust me, I was one once, although I'm sure if I told you when you'd think it a million years ago.”

Layla laughed politely. 

“However, sometimes all a boy needs is a little push.” Senior smiled, preparing to leave Layla alone with her thoughts. “Don't give up heart just yet. You may be surprised.”

Layla nodded, waiting for Senior to leave her in peace before she smirked. She had a feeling that Senior might be about to have a little talk with Ted over his future dates and she knew damned well that Ted wasn't about to admit to anything going on with Cody; he would be over his little flirtation in days and right where he should be. With her. 

~:~

John cracked first, grabbing his phone and dialling Randy's number from memory rather than taking out his frustrations trying to pull his number up from the directory. It barely rang before Randy answered, as if the other had his phone in his hand when it had rung. “John?”

“Randy.” John took a deep breath. He had tried over and over to plan what he might say but nothing had worked for him and now he didn't know what on earth he was supposed to come out with. The sentences played through his mind but none of them were right. 

“John? Did you call just to hear my voice?” The words might have been teasing but the tone was tense. 

“Not exactly.” John rolled onto his back on the bed he had often shared with the other boy, staring at the ceiling. “Look Rand, I know you didn't knock the bitch on her ass. Not intentionally at least. You're right, I know you too well to think you'd do something like that.”

There was a deep sigh from the other end of the phone and John knew Randy well enough to know that one was relief. “Thanks for believing me. Believing in me.”

“That she just turned up and started stripping though, that's a tough one for me to buy.”

“But--” Randy's voice had risen; he cut himself off and John knew he was employing some anger management technique before he spoke again, much more calmly this time. “I know how it sounds, but that's how it happened. That's the trouble, when you're stuck with the truth you can't change it, no matter how stupid it sounds and how utterly weak it is.”

John chewed on his lip. That had been something else on his mind, that Randy should have been able to make up a better lie than that. Hell, even just saying that Maria had been chasing him since they had broken up and become increasingly provocative would have made his story entirely believable. It was the out-of-the-blue factor that had caused a large part of the problem. That and that Maria had certainly been devoid of plenty of clothes. 

“I wouldn't fool around with her when I was trying to win back your trust,” continued Randy when John didn't answer him. “She's not exactly secretive and hell, I just got my cock checked over once. I stuck my dick in her, I'd have to do it all over again and the results might not be so happy.”

“Nice. Graphic.”

“You were hoping for romantic perhaps?”

“No, that was the last thing I was hoping for under the circumstances.” John reached out for a novelty stress ball that Evan had bought him when he was about eleven; it was shaped like boobs which of course was the height of humour for two pre-pubescent boys. It had been sat unobtrusively on a shelf for years but since breaking up with Randy it had been getting a work-out, although for the supposed stress-relieving properties rather than the shape. He crushed it with his fist, wondering if he was likely to break the damn thing any time soon and if Evan would be offended if he did. 

“The thing is Randy, you didn't actually have a whole lot of my trust anyway,” he said and when Randy tried to interrupt he spoke louder, drowning out his voice. “But. I did believe that you were trying and this whole thing seems so – so weird. I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt about it. I'll buy what you told me until I have reason not to. But you'll have to forgive me for holding onto a few suspicions.”

Randy went quiet for a long moment and John thought he was about to get hung up on. “I suppose that's the best I can hope for,” said Randy in the end and John suddenly wanted to reassure him as he had always done in the past when he heard that tone. Randy sounded so weary. “And I'll prove it to you, I'm worth the trust. Somehow.”

John smiled to himself. “I don't doubt you'll try.”

~::~

The trip across to Alex’s house took little time at all and Mike found himself wondering how he was supposed to act when he got there; of course he’d have to act like he hadn’t heard about Alex’s file going missing, but at the same time he couldn’t exactly overlook the fact that the other was acting strangely. And Alex had to be expecting on some level that Mike would notice that since he was oh so very aware of the other after all as he had proved prior to that occasion. In the end he decided that he would just have to wing the situation as it happened and hope that it came out alright.

Approaching the front door he knocked, hearing Alex’s footsteps heading towards it almost immediately, the door being pulled open moments later.

“Hey,” Mike greeted with his best smile.

“Hey,” Alex smiled back but the shadows underneath his eyes and the slight tension lining Alex’s jaw belied the truthfulness of that smile.

“Didn’t interrupt anything did I?”

“Why would you?” Alex asked lightly as he stepped back to allow Mike in, “I wouldn’t have invited you if I had other things to do would I?”

Mike pouted across at him lightly, “Gee, thanks.”

For a moment Alex looked confused and then seemed to realise what he’d implied. A light blush stole across his cheeks (making look unbearably boyishly cute) and he grinned wanly, “Sorry.”

“Not forgiving you,” Mike continued to pout, though he relented faster than he probably would under other circumstances because he looked so stricken, “Unless you give me a kiss.”

For the first time some of the ice lingering in Alex’s eyes seemed to thaw and he moved across to Mike, cupping his cheek in that same tender manner he always did, and leant down to brush their lips together fleetingly. And then he kissed him a little more firmly, though he seemed to be trying to keep careful control of himself…

The fact that he was trembling lightly was a sign of something not right at least.

Dropping his bag to the ground carelessly Mike angled his head to meet Alex’s kiss, Alex’s hands moving from his face and down his neck to his waist as Mike’s took up possession of the back of Alex’s neck and one of his cheeks instead.

When they pulled back Mike quirked a lopsided smile, “I forgive you now.”

“So… That mean you don’t want any more kisses?”

“Ha! Right—I expect more of those kisses.”

“Guess I can be persuaded…”

“Persuaded?” Mike snorted lightly and then chuckled, “Cheeky much?”

“I try,” Alex then paused and glanced at his watch before replacing his hand back on Mike’s hip. And Mike was very hard-pressed to keep from making some sort of comment about the fact that the other was still shaking a little bit. “Have you eaten?” Alex asked then and Mike blinked a little.

“I didn’t bring any money—”

“You came over for me so I would pay, but actually, I was going to offer to cook,” he had been about to make something for himself anyway.

“You cook?” Mike asked before realising that it was probably a stupid question… Alex was on his own so much, and he’d only ever seen the housekeeper during the day, that he had no choice but to cook otherwise he’d be some blob thanks to takeaways two times a day, or even three if he couldn’t be assed to make breakfast.

“I’m not Gordon Ramsey,” Alex acquiesced gracefully, “But I try.”

“Well, if you’re offering… just don’t ask me to help,” Mike looked rueful, “If it’s anything over a microwave meal or a sandwich then we should get the fire department on standby.”

A low laugh left Alex, “You can’t be that bad, surely?”

“Ask my sister… actually, don’t; she’ll have you there for days listing my apparent mishaps.”

“I’ll remember that,” Alex nodded and then made his way towards the kitchen, pausing as he said, “I’ll take your things upstairs.”

“Don’t worry,” Mike said breezily as he picked up his previously discarded bag and headed towards the stairs, “You can get started on dinner. You’re on the third floor right?” before Alex could even respond Mike was heading upstairs.

It was somewhat ironic really that a father and son, the father assumingly single, would need so much space, but Mike knew that the kind of house that Alex lived in, ironically, was one of the smallest sorts that they had on offer in their town.

It didn’t take long to locate Alex’s room; it was the only room of the upstairs, bar the bathroom, that had any sort of personality to it. Alex’s father’s room was almost as bland and generic as a hotel-room, one single picture frame sitting on the bureau drawer; a pretty woman and a very young boy who could only be Alex, and a smiling man that had to be his mysterious father.

Reaching out carefully Mike lifted the picture, smiling softly at the smiling boy. It was quite sad to think he had been that happy with his parents once, and then things had gone so sour upon his mother’s passing. Everyone said that grief did all kind of things to people… but Mike thought it was pretty damned twattish of Alex’s father to draw away from the one person in his life at the least who needed him because he hadn’t managed to deal with stuff properly.

Setting the photo back down he had backed from the room and proceeded looking for Alex’s which he found moments later.

In the back of his mind he wondered if he should go back to the second floor and use the spare room next to Alex’s dad’s room, but then he decided that was stupid; even if Alex didn’t want to talk about what was currently happening with him Mike could offer the reassurance of his presence, let Alex know he was going to be there for him.

Padding back downstairs Mike was mildly surprised to see Alex already quite the way through cutting some vegetables on a chopping-board. Perching himself at one of the places of the breakfast bar the brunette cocked his head, “So, Chef, what we havin’?”

“Chilli?”

“Awesome.”

“Oh, good,” Alex laughed slightly, a little rueful, “I didn’t think to ask until I started cooking… some people don’t like spicy food.”

“Dude, that’s Cody, not me,” Mike said, “I might watch my meals sometimes but that boy… I don’t know how he can bare it. Still, it does explain why he’s like a rabid animal when you offer to buy him fast food whenever he decides to let the diet slip.”

“Cody diets?”

Mike eyed Alex’s footballer’s physique, “You saying you don’t?”

Alex also looked down at himself, “Maybe not as much as I should,” he confessed.

“You don’t need it; there’s nothing wrong with your body.”

Alex tried to hide his blush by looking back towards the vegetables he was cutting, glancing then to the mince sizzling away in the pan. Besides that in a separate pan was a bag of rice to accompany the meal.

“You would say that.”

“Ain’t nothing but the truth.”

“Sure Mike, whatever you say… How was your day?”

Mike wished that he could trust Alex would be as honest as him when he answered should the question be asked in reverse, but as things still stood he knew that the other wasn’t about to tell him anything of significance anytime soon.

~::~

“Theodore, son, can I have a word?”

Looking up from where he was writing something down for his Chemistry homework Ted tilted his head, “Is something wrong dad?”

“Oh, no,” Ted Sr. said breezily as he walked into Ted’s room and closed the door behind him before sitting down on Ted’s bed, looking across to Ted where he sat at his computer desk, “Nothing’s wrong per se…”

Ted suddenly had a bad feeling; this was the tone of voice that his father had used back when puberty had struck and he had had to remind him of his virtue and how it should remain intact until his marriage. It had been an excruciating experience and Ted was suddenly stricken by why his father would suddenly be inspired to have another such talk with him.

Surely he couldn’t have figured out that Ted was seeing someone?

“Uh, so what is it?” Ted set his pen down and swivelled his chair around to face his dad.

Ted Sr. looked both embarrassed and compassionate and Ted waited with barely contained unease.

“Someone came to see me in church today,” Sr. said lightly and Ted blinked a little, wondering what that had to do with him. “Oh,” he nodded, “Who was it?”

“Miss El.”

“Layla?” Ted repeated incredulously; he had never known her as a church-goer exactly, except on a sporadic occasions.

“Yes, Layla. Lovely girl.”

“Uh… Yeah, she seems nice enough…”

“Don’t you think… maybe, well… given the age you are now… you’re not getting any younger and erm…” he cleared his throat and seemed to be torn between continuing and excusing the entire thing to act as though it had never happened.

“Dad what’re you getting at?” though even as he said it he had a terrible feeling that he knew--- and he just didn’t understand why his father would suddenly be pushing Layla into his awareness. Even before when her interest in him had become more apparent his father hadn’t said barely anything to him before. Except to be nice to her, polite, like he should to all ladies.

“Theodore… Do you have a girlfriend?”

“What?” he stared.

“No then?” his father prompted as Ted continued to sputter, a smile starting to play around the corner of his lips, “I think I might know someone who’s interested.”

“B-But dad—“Ted started weakly (wincing when a snide voice in the back of his mind said that he wouldn’t have been subjected to such an uncomfortable conversation had his father been made aware of his relationship with Cody and his feelings towards him) wracking his brains for some sort of excuse that he could provide to throw his father from the notion he was currently riding with, but before he had even gotten started his father was shooting him down.

“Layla seems like a very genuine young lady, Ted, and she seems very taken with you.”

“I hardly know her—”

“And that is why you would take her out, for coffee, for dinner, to get to know her.”

“But I don’t want—”

“Theodore,” Sr.’s smile had slipped to a firm expression and Ted knew that whatever he said was going to go in one ear and out of the other, and that his son had better just do what he was told and save them all a lot of bother, “You’re almost graduating from high school and soon you will be going off to college. You need to think about your future, and that includes having your own family one day.”

Ted wondered if it was somewhat ironic that in their town parents were obsessed with having their kids married off/selecting who they would be married off to as soon as possible, whereas in most other parts of the country parents usually fought having their children so committed as hard as they could for as long as they could.

Miserably he found himself saying, “I’ll see if she’d like to go for coffee on Friday.”

Mistaking his son’s misery for nervousness Sr. clapped his son on the shoulder, “Good idea. The sooner you ask her the better, wouldn’t want her to think that you weren’t interested hm?”

Staring dolefully after his father as he left Ted then got up and closed his bedroom door again securely before then moving back to his desk and getting his phone.

Momentarily he considered calling Cody to explain… but then he chickened out. He would work his way up to that.

Afterwards he found himself dialling Evan’s number; John had had enough on his plate recently, Mike was most likely going to be unavailable for whatever reason, so it stood to reason that as things had been going well for Evan recently (and the other was most always at home) then he would be the one to answer to him.

And, well, Evan’s advice was admittedly the one he could trust most on relationships considering how jaded John still was thanks to everything that had happened with Randy as of late, and Mike with his twisted position involving Maryse and Alex, despite Mike insisting that he had finally sorted things out.

In the end he wasn’t sure whether he was pleased or not when Evan answered the phone to him, sounding as cheerful as ever.


	10. Chapter Nine: Acquitted... Or Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted gets dating advise, Randy goes AWOL amidst more tongues wagging and Maryse lets slip Alex's past to his father.

“Hey Ted,” said Evan brightly. “What's happening? You read my mind and know I'm clicking the links instead of getting on with chem?”

“Not quite,” replied Ted with a slight smile. “Remember when we were thirteen or fourteen and you were wondering if you'd actually be able to kill someone if it came down to it? Well, I'm wondering if you wanted to come over and see if you could kill someone, namely me.”

“Hey, we were talking end of the world scenarios that day.”

“That's pretty much what I'm talking about too.”

“Oh? What's happening?”

Ted sighed. “My dad ran into Layla and they had some kind of heart-to-heart. Basically, he thinks I should take her out on a date and he wasn't taking 'I don't want to' for an answer.”

“...Oh. Shit.”

“Yeah. Shit.”

Evan went quiet for a moment. “Did you say that she wasn't your type?”

“I tried! He just kept telling me that she was a nice girl and that I should give her a chance and that I wasn't getting any younger--”

“He didn't use that line!”

“I swear, those were his exact words. He seems to think I should be getting serious about the future and that means being serious about a girl.”

Evan seemed almost at a loss. “You can't take Layla out.”

“I don't want to, but it'll shut my dad up on the subject...”

“Whoa.” Ted could almost see Evan holding up his hand for his friend to be quiet. “You can't take her out and there's any number of reasons but the main was is that it's cruel.”

“Huh?”

“You'd be leading her on,” said Evan patiently. “You already said that you think she told your dad she likes you and going out with her would just build her hopes up. And you've no intentions of even seeing if it'll work, have you? Because you're not into her, you're not even into girls and don't give me all that about how you didn't know until Cody. We've all known you're not into the curvy set since we were thirteen. And if you take out Layla, don't you think that Cody's gonna find out? I'm sure he will, I'm convinced of it. Nothing stays a secret long around here and when he does find out...”

Ted winced, imagining what Cody would think. He would think he was being cheated on, that Ted wasn't interested or that he was keeping his options open. He wouldn't believe Ted's story about his father if he found out after the fact and that would make life very hard indeed. Cody seemed very self-confident but he was as open to self-doubt as anyone else and Ted knew that Cody would think there was something wrong with him rather than with Ted. 

“It's not fair on him to take her out and it's not fair on her to take her out.” Evan was patient but Ted thought he detected a thread of impatience under the surface. “And you think that one date would shut your dad up? Think about it. Even if you got away with hiding it from Cody and then managed to persuade Layla you're not that much of a catch, your dad's gonna want to know what happened. And Layla's not that easy to shake off. She's gonna want more, we both know it and we both know that you're not cold-blooded enough to tell her straight, which is what a girl like that really needs. So you'll be making up more excuses to your dad, he's gonna ask about it and make his suggestions and you'll feel that you have to go along with them. You want to try leading a double life for long? You go along with this, you'll have to lose Cody, is that what you want?”

“No!”

“And once you've lost him, you'll have to keep it up with Layla to stop your dad asking questions and making suggestions and then he'll come home one day with your grandma's engagement ring and tell you to give it to her. And then you can spend your life in misery and what for? Because you didn't stand up for yourself when you were back in high school! So the way I see it Ted, you have a couple of options. You can go along with all this and be miserable...”

“Some choice.”

“It's a choice, I didn't say it was a good one. Failing that, you can tell your dad the truth about your boyfriend--”

“Yeah, can you see how my dad would react?”

“Be fair to him. He'd probably insist that you settled down with a nice young man and adopt before you went off to college instead. A nice young man of his choosing of course.”

“Ha, that'll be the day.”

“Or you could talk to Layla and put her off.”

“How?”

“Call her now, say 'I know what you're doing you creepy stalker bitch, stay the fuck away from my parents' and hang up. You can tell your dad you've called her and there's no chance of coffee.”

“Uh, isn't there something that doesn't involve me abusing a lady down the phone?”

“There's no lady involved in this. But you could involve one. Talk to your mom.”

“Huh?”

“She's been married to your dad forever. She must be able to talk to him. If you tell her you really don't like Layla even slightly, then perhaps she'll step in and tell your dad to stop pushing you at a girl you hate. Hell, she might be able to get him to lay off altogether and let you sort your own love life out.”

“Will that work?”

“I dunno, they're your parents. You'd know better than me. I'd go for the last option before talking to Layla though. And maybe you should mention your parents attitude to Cody too.”

“I'd really rather he didn't know. I don't want to tell him my parents are mental.”

“Everyone's parents are mental. It's just a matter of degrees.”

“Still, how's it gonna sound when I tell him my parents want me to start looking for my wife and he's not an option? It's not a good thing to say when we've only just started dating. I'd rather keep this one to myself.”

“Do that, by all means. But don't keep it to yourself and then go out with her. In fact, just don't go out with her. She's manipulating you through your parents and you don't have to take it. If you don't start standing up for yourself then you're gonna be married to the bitch and having to listen to her whine whenever she's not expecting another crotch-dropping.”

“I feel sick.” Ted lay down and groaned. “I hate this, so much.”

“Just stand up for yourself. It's relatively painless and in the long run, far more so than not doing. I never thought I'd say this about Cody but you're onto a good thing there and he really likes you. Don't fuck it up because you're too chicken to tell your parents whose life it is.”

“You're swearing a lot lately. Punk's definitely influencing you.”

“Yeah, but it's not entirely a bad thing.” Ted could hear the smile in Evan's voice. “He's a good guy, once you get past the mouth and attitude. And he's pretty smart, no matter how much he gets into trouble at school. And he put in a whole lot of good words for Cody.”

“He did?”

“Ha, he was even asking me about you to pass onto Cody, before you two--”

“Wait, you won't tell him about this will you?”

There was no way Ted could know, but he could somehow sense Evan rolling his eyes in a very Punk-like fashion. “No, course not. As I was saying, before you two hooked up, he wanted to know if you were just completely oblivious or genuinely not interested. He looks after his friends.”

“As long as he's not being go-between with John and Randy.”

“Ha! No, I think he's staying well out of that, same as we are.” Evan chuckled. “I don't mind if John wants to vent, or discuss, or whatever, but I'm' not about to start giving out dating advice where they're concerned. For one thing, John hates that anyone knows more than he wants to tell about his relationships. He'd freak if I spoke out of school to Punk.”

“It's okay between us two though?”

“Well, yeah, we know what he told us both, no secrets there.” Evan laughed a little. “Though there's been enough drama there to last a lifetime.”

“You have no idea,” said Ted dryly, remembering what Cody had told him about the call with Randy earlier – in fact, he should probably call John and check that he was okay, but he was really too shaken up with his own problems and knowing that Evan had none made him feel less guilty about dumping them on him. Before Evan could ask what that meant, he interrupted himself. “Thanks for the advice.”

“You would have thought of them yourself in the end, it's just that it's harder to see the options when you're stuck in the middle.” Evan paused a moment. “Can you get your mother alone, while your dad's gone?”

“Not tonight, not now. They'll watch some TV together and then go to bed.” Ted thought it over. “Dad usually leaves a little before we all do though. If I wait 'til Brett's gone, then I might be able to get some time to speak to mum. Unless he wants a lift and then I'm screwed 'til after school.”

“I'd advise it sooner rather than later Ted,” replied Evan. “Because if Layla's pulling this kind of shit, who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow?”

~:~

In contrast to the last time that Mike had slept over at Alex's, his sleep wasn't quite so good. He and Alex went to bed at a reasonable hour, spent some time kissing and getting a little intimate but nothing heavy, not the way he would have expected given that their relationship was a new one. However, he supposed that with things on Alex's mind and that he had agreed that they should wait a decent period before seeing one another seriously, maybe it was to be expected. And oddly enough he didn't mind. Sure, he would have loved to jump Alex's bones there and then, but there was something intimate about simply enjoying one another without the sex that he had never experienced before and had never wanted to. He hadn't even suspected it, he had thought it was either sex or frigidity but he had been wrong about that. After a while they fell asleep in one another's arms and Mike should have been settled for the rest of the night, if past experience was anything to go by. 

Instead he woke up at some ridiculously early hour, slightly disoriented. He was lying on his side, over to one side of the bed and no part of him was touching Alex. For a moment he wondered if the other had disturbed him getting out of bed to visit the bathroom and then he realised he could hear another person breathing and feel the presence of another man in bed. Alex was still there – so maybe he had been returning and disturbed him. But Alex wasn't shifting into a comfortable position as if he had just gotten back. He was still, quiet and very definitely awake. Mike could tell by the way he breathed. 

Mike was just considering moving when Alex shifted in bed, his hand brushing Mike's arm so lightly that Mike wasn't at all sure that he felt it. He didn't move, feigning sleep, wondering if Alex was about to throw an arm over him and go back to sleep or not. 

Instead he felt lips on his shoulder a moment later, a feather-light touch, Alex breathing against his skin. Mike intended to let his wakefulness be known (and if he was quite honest, the interest that the kiss had brought out in certain parts of his body) but he forgot all about it when he heard Alex speaking. 

“I'm sorry Mike,” the other boy murmured, so quietly that Mike had to strain to hear him. “I'm really sorry.”

Mike didn't move, barely dared to breathe in case Alex realised that he was awake – he knew that Alex hadn't intended for him to hear that, had thought that Mike was still dreaming. After a few moments Alex sighed, lying in the bed and slipping his hand around Mike's waist, spooning him from behind and gradually his breathing evened out, softened, telling Mike he was asleep at last. But Mike lay awake a while longer, his mind on the file that Punk had told him was missing. 

What the hell was Alex hiding from him?

~:~

John wasn't fond of waking early but his life was busy enough that he had to; if he wanted to get in some weights and a shower before school then he simply had to get up. Not that it had been easy to sleep lately and the previous night had been no exception. He hit the weights early, thanking his lucky stars that his brothers' tended to prefer doing any exercise after school was through, it afforded him privacy at least. He was just finishing up, wiping his face with a towel and trying to calculate the odds of making it through his shower without his mother yelling that he was going to be late (not good odds, his mother seemed to think that unless he was twenty minutes early, he was tardy) when his phone rang. He always took his phone into the home gym with him since he used it to keep an eye on the time and as an alarm to warn him he was running out of it, but it wasn't often that it rang while he worked out. In days past Randy would sometimes call him the moment he woke up, just to put a smile on John's face, and occasionally his friends would call if they had big news and wanted to meet for breakfast. But it was uncommon enough that John paused before reaching for his phone, wondering what else had happened. When he saw the number on the display he groaned aloud. Kelly. The last thing he needed was a discussion with her. 

He considered ignoring it and then some masochistic urge made him reply. “Hi.”

“John! I thought you were still in bed!” There was a giggle and the tone of voice was unmistakably flirtatious. 

“Working out,” he said abruptly, he didn't want to prolong the conversation if he could get away with shortening it. “About to hit the shower. What's up?”

“Well...” Kelly's voice dropped a little and became serious, or at least a rather dramatic version of serious. “I just wanted you to know that if there's anything I can do, you only have to ask.”

“Oh.” John pressed his lips together as he tried to work out what she meant. The only thing that came to mind was the scene the day before, Randy with Maria, and that was enough to make him feel nauseous. He was torn between asking her what she referred to and playing dumb. In the end he combined the two. “Well, if there's anything making me feel bad, you'll be the first to know. But things are fine.”

“Right...” He could just envision Kelly biting her lower lip between even white teeth in a display of mock-concern. “It's just that Maria's been saying a few things about, well, her and Randy and I know you two were back on speaking terms. And she mentioned you as well, that you knew about them now and I thought, well, you'd be upset. So I just wanted you to know, it's nothing to do with you. Randy's just a jerk.”

“Someone sure is,” replied John dryly. Maria saying anything meant one of two things; either she was lashing out at Randy by letting people know they had something going on when it had clearly been supposed to be private, perhaps wanting it to get back to John – or else someone wanted him to know for sure there was something going on with the two after what he had seen the day before. He thought that if Maria was lashing out, then she might have got his number and called him herself. She would probably have dressed it up, saying she had no idea they were back on (and they weren't) but she would have done it, he was almost sure, if she wanted to get some kind of revenge on Randy. And she would have told him all the gory details about their fight. If anything, that the gossip had already gotten out without the little detail of what had happened on the doorstep made him wonder if Randy's truth wasn't closer to what had really happened. 

“Huh?” Kelly sounded confused. 

“Did Maria say anything else?”

“Oh, I didn't hear it off her, it was someone else who called me.” Said quickly, as if Kelly wanted to distance herself from the other girl. “All I know is that Maria's been seeing Randy for a while now. I assume they call it seeing one another, but if you know what I knew about Maria – well, it doesn't matter. I don't like to talk behind people's backs.”

“Uh-huh.” John tried to sound nonchalant. He knew that Kelly liked him and he also knew that she'd probably go some way to trying to win him over, but he dismissed the scene yesterday as having anything to do with her out of hand. Something like that was a lot sneakier and more co-ordinated than he thought she could be. But that didn't mean that he needed to give her unnecessary encouragement. “Thanks for calling, but I'm telling the truth. I'm in an okay place right now. Mentally at least, physically I'm in the gym and if I don't shower before school I'll be really unpopular. I need to go. Speak to you later!”

He heard her slightly confused farewell before hanging up and felt momentarily bad. But he had to make it clear that he wasn't interested in her in that way, no matter what Randy did. And that Kelly had found out since the scene the day before... well, the timing was strange. Maybe Maria had been rejected outright and her revenge was acting as if she had something with Randy in the hopes it would get back to him and cause a problem with them.

It had, but he didn't want anyone else to know that. 

Sighing, he went back to his own room to get his shower in the adjoining bathroom. He really wasn't looking forward to school if anyone else had heard the rumours – but all school had been lately was rumours, rumours about him and Randy and who they were banging and if they hated one another. Just one more to add to the collection, but knowing that it wasn't important and should mean nothing didn't mean that it didn't get to him once in a while.

~::~

There was something in the air at school that just wasn’t right somewhere.

Evan frowned softly as he looked around at his friends interspersed around the classroom. John seemed oddly pensive… although perhaps not so oddly considering the way his moods had been fluctuating recently, and Ted… Well, Ted looked as though someone had kicked his puppy, filmed it and then somehow made it play over and over again in Ted’s head--- but that didn’t surprise Evan in the slightest given what the other had told him on the phone the night before. It was times like these he was glad that although his mother wasn’t always well she at least accepted and supported him throughout everything. And Alex? Alex was definitely the oddest; he was still acting as though everything was Ok, laughing and joking, but there was something off about the way he was doing it.

The smiles didn’t quite meet his eyes.

Or, maybe he was just being hypersensitive to things; there had been so much going on lately that it was inevitable that some strain would be showing. Still… Evan couldn’t help but think that he wasn’t seeing the entirety of the picture, and it bothered him that they couldn’t feel like they could approach one another to talk. Well, Ok, Ted had approached him but still.

A sudden vibration against his leg almost made him jump, glancing up to make sure that Professor Lawler was occupied before he slipped his phone out of his pocket.

Is John here 2day?

Evan’s brow furrowed; why would Punk be asking him that?

Yeah, why?

Because Randy isn’t. We can’t get in touch with him either.

Now that was definitely odd… even if no one else could contact Randy and his mates then they usually could contact one another.

Have you tried his house?

Yeah, no1 answered.

I’ll ask John if he’s heard anything, OK?

Cheers babe. Oh yeah; keep lunch free 4 me OK?

Despite himself Evan felt a little smile growing; Punk might not always be the most eloquent as opposed to the most forthright, but there was something charming about it even so. Or maybe he was just becoming much too attached to Punk? That was also a likelihood.

Sure thing, see you then.

Placing his phone back into his pocket Evan then tried to focus back on the lecture, but despite his best efforts his mind just kept wandering back to what Punk had asked him. Had John and Randy still been together then it would have stood to reason that if one was missing then the other one would know why, but now that they weren’t together… why would Punk think where Randy was if he had gone AWOL? And, on top of that, why would Randy have gone AWOL when everything had apparently been getting better for him and John? Which, according to his enraged rumblings towards them now and again, had been the entire point all along.

It didn’t make sense.

But then, not much had recently.

Rubbing a hand over his forehead Evan exhaled; he’d pass on the message to John to see if he knew where Randy was, and then he would meet up with Punk. Of course it would be nice if he could sit with his friends and Punk’s friends but something told him that there was very little chance of bringing all of their little groups together yet.

Too many relationships for one.

Too much going on for another.

Far too much going on.

~::~

“What’s the matter Ev?”

“You mean aside from the fact you stole my last M&M’s?”

“I didn’t steal them!” John pouted, “I thought you said you were done!”

“Whatever,” Evan chuckled and then his expression sobered slightly as he noticed Cody and Mike further down the hall, heading towards the boys’ room, reminding him of the question he’d been asked by the other friend those two possessed, “John… Have you spoken to Randy at all today?”

Immediately Evan knew that he had touched some kind of nerve as John immediately tensed, but his feet shifted occasionally, denoting his anxiety, “Why?”

“It’s just a question, John,” he said dryly, referring to the other’s defensiveness, but then sighed, “Well, you see… It’s probably nothing but… Punk text me this morning asking if you were in. Apparently—“he wondered whether this would be a good idea after all but then figured he had little choice, “They can’t get in touch with Randy and he hasn’t come to school today.”

Almost instantaneously he could see John’s mind working.

“Randy never misses school, not unless he’s sick—“and he’d sounded fine last night.

“He doesn’t skip school?”

“No,” John shook his head, “Even if he skips lessons he always comes to school at least and does something.”

But now he wasn’t here, had seemed fine last night, and although there was every chance he could have genuinely become ill overnight for some reason something about that just didn’t sit right with John. And, as Randy had proved countless and countless times for the main part: he didn’t run away from his problems, so John couldn’t see that he could have decided that skipping would be a great idea to… to avoid seeing him, maybe?

The sudden sharp pain in his chest was entirely unexpected and not as easy to brush off as he had hoped.

Reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out his phone and then brought up Randy’s number… pretending that he still didn’t have the ability to dial it by memory if need be, because, well, that was just kind of weird considering that they weren’t together anymore.

It rang, and rang…

And then almost immediately it went through to a voice service, saying the caller wasn’t reachable.

Almost dazed John drew his phone back from his ear, looking at it as though he somehow expected it to change or otherwise provide him with an answer.

“His phone’s turned off.”

“Really?”

Again, weird, but at the same time, they could all just be taking too much in of this.

Bringing out his own phone Evan then reported back to Punk that John didn’t know where he was but that they had just tried to contact him. The response he received was short but even so Evan could sense there was something bothering the other about his friend’s behaviour.

“What is that ass doing now?” John muttered.

“Probably just at home, sleeping. It is possible.”

“Yeah… Possible.”

What if he was with Maria? Or someone else.

He didn’t care.

Except he really did care.

They weren’t together anymore, it shouldn’t matter.

It matters. He’s supposed to be trying to get back together with me--- even if I haven’t exactly promised him that anything’s going to come out of it regardless of what he’s doing.

“I’ll go and check on him.”

Evan immediately recognised the look on John’s face; that was the look he normally had on if Randy had gotten too drunk back when they were together and he was intending to kick the boy’s ass for his behaviour. He hadn’t intended such a response to come from John but at the same time a little part of him said he should have expected it.

“You don’t have to, I bet one of his friends will--- or, or maybe he’ll come in after lunch instead?”

Whatever excuse came to mind he used it, hoping that something would come out that would be able to take John’s mind away from thinking that it was a great idea to leave school to go and see how his ex was doing. It was probably nothing and then John and Randy would get into another one of their rows and… Despite everything, Evan had kind of liked that John and Randy had been getting back to better terms, because it meant that their moods had been better and it was more pleasant to be around him then it had been quite often as of late.

Not to say that he thought John and Randy getting back together was a great idea exactly but---

Wait a second---

“John?”

Oh shit… When the hell did he leave?

~::~

“Is something wrong Alex?”

“Wrong?” Alex looked up from where he was browsing through the school library shelves for a book he needed for their history assignment, cocking his head at Mike, “Why do you ask?”

Mike had decided to tag along with Alex to the library once he had found him heading there, claiming that maths wasn’t a tragedy to miss if it meant spending time with him--- although Alex had done his best to try and dissuade Mike and get him to go to class. Although spending more time with him would be perfect (even though they had just spent all of the previous night and morning until they had reached school together) he didn’t want Mike’s grades suffering because of nonchalance. That nonchalance probably wouldn’t be there when high-school was over after all, despite how invincible some of them felt, and how they thought that their current schooling would last forever.

The undeniable reality of adult-hood would be hitting them in mere months when it came to either going to college of heading out into the workplace; many people may have had some kind of guaranteed placement with their parents, or other members of family or family friends but that didn’t mean that they would all automatically get it without some sort of college qualification to fall back on.

“I was just wondering… you still look kinda tired.”

“Maybe that was your fault.”

Mike chuckled, unable to help falling into his somewhat flirtatious mode as he angled the fedora on his head the way he liked it and then winked before licking his bottom lip lightly, “Believe me, Alex, if I was the reason that you hadn’t gotten much sleep then you would look more than a little tired.”

“Someone sure is confident.”

“I wouldn’t be nearly as appealing if I wasn’t.”

Now, Alex didn’t know if he could agree with that but at the same time he could agree that Mike most certainly wouldn’t be Mike if he didn’t have that unfailing confidence about him that was both appealing, intimidating and irritating all in one.

“Seriously though,” Mike added in afterwards, surprising Alex when he suddenly leant down until they were all but nose-to-nose, “Is everything OK?”

“It’s fine,” Alex couldn’t help but look away; if Mike kept looking at him like that, using that softer tone of voice, well… then he was likely to end up caving in and telling him everything.

And everything would likely have Mike running away from him screaming, telling Alex that if he ever came near him again then he would go to the police about him or something. And he didn’t think for even a moment that he was exaggerating… the past that he had been working so hard to forget about wasn’t easy to just sweep under the rug.

How could someone sweep something like being abducted, used as a blackmail bargaining chip, and abused… and murder, under the carpet?

Oh, yes, they had told Alex over and over that what he had done wasn’t murder, but justifiable self-defence, and on top of that that he had been much too young to understand the ability to do what he had, but… Alex knew differently. It didn’t matter how you dressed it up or what excuses you used, he had killed a man, and led to another fleeing the country.

Fleeing… but not before threatening that one day he would find Alex and come and get him one day--

“Alex!”

“Shhhh!” came an irritated hiss from across the room where the librarian sat, eying them suspiciously, but Mike merely ignored her and grabbed Alex’s arm to drag him further into the stacks and away from the nosey old bint.

“Alex!” the boy had suddenly turned so pale it looked as though he was going to fall over, his bottom lip was trembling and his eyes looked frighteningly hollow and yet filled with fear all in one. Mike had heard of people looking haunted because of things they had experienced in their lives, but this? This was the first time he had ever seen the expression in the flesh.

“What?”

Alex sounded tremulous, almost like a small child, and Mike didn’t even really think as he shook him roughly by the shoulders, a strange panic welling in his chest?

What was wrong with him?

Just as Mike thought he might somehow break Alex’s neck from how much he was shaking it the other seemed to jerk, colour returning to his cheeks and life and light returning to his eyes. It was almost as though Mike was looking at another person, and that what he’d just seen was a horrible apparition dredged up from the recesses of his subconscious.

“Mike?”

Alex’s expression was one of complete, honest confusion.

“What happened? Why are we in the physics section? I don’t need physics, I need—”

“’Don’t do it again’,” Mike murmured softly, eyes locked on Alex’s face.

Alex’s somewhat-smile immediately turned tight and growing panic was visible in his eyes.

“Mike—”

“What did that mean, Alex?”

“I--- I don’t know what you’re talking about---”

“Is this about your folder?” under other circumstances Mike might have just let things go, but after what he’d just seen happen to Alex? There was no way he was just going to ignore it.

Alex looked as though he’d been slapped, “How did you--- you can’t---”

“At the moment,” Mike said, keeping a hold of Alex when he sensed the boy might bolt on him, “The only thing I can’t understand is that you’re hiding something from me. How can you want to be with me if you don’t trust me?”

Alex suddenly looked sick, as though he might drop to his knees, “It’s not trusting you that’s the problem, Mike,” he whispered in a strained voice that was barely audible, “It’s trusting myself that’s the problem. Trusting that I won’t hurt you…”

“You could never hurt me,” Mike insisted.

Alex laughed hollowly, “That’s what you think.”

~::~

“OK, what is it?”

“Huh?”

“I know that school lunches generally suck donkey-balls but at least the chilli’s usually bearable.”

“Oh… you want some?”

“Ted,” Cody frowned softly (something he usually avoided if he could help it considering how often people complained about people frowning giving them wrinkles) and moved so that he was looking into the other’s eyes as opposed to Ted looking away from him at nothing, “Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Reflexively panic started welling, “What?” he asked, voice an octave higher than usual, “What- what makes you say that?” he laughed uncomfortably but Cody looked notably unimpressed.

“So there is.”

“No! No, it’s just—”

“That you’re suddenly so concerned by the state of the school’s chilli that you have to spend ten minutes staring at it, not listening to a word I say, when you were the one to ask me to have lunch with you in the first place?” Cody muttered.

Ted winced slightly; OK, maybe his own guilt and confusion had had him… Well, maybe not paying as much attention to Cody as he usually would do.

“Really, it’s nothing, just some things at home.”

Cody’s expression mellowed--- and even Ted couldn’t miss the barely concealed hopefulness there as he said, “Um… Have you talked to your parents about us?”

Ted could see where Cody was coming from but his stomach felt as though he’d swallowed a lead-weight as he considered that he was about to disappoint the other greatly; because what else could possibly be happening in Ted’s life that would cause such concern to the blonde?

“No.”

Despite the obvious attempts he made to school himself Cody looked crestfallen, “Oh,” before he was quick to perk himself up and act as though Ted probably hadn’t just ground his heart underfoot a tiny bit.

Silence descended between them and this time Cody was the one picking at his food (some sort of salad that Ted swore alone couldn’t be entirely filling by itself) without looking across to him. Even though they were relatively alone Ted couldn’t bring himself to reach out and touch Cody’s hand, assure him that everything was OK.

Because truthfully it wasn’t wholly OK.

“How was class this morning?” it was a lame change of subject and Ted could have kicked himself as soon as the words left his mouth.

“Same old.”

Ted fumbled for another topic, feeling perspiration bead on his brow, “How--- how’re your friends?”

“Punk’s drooling over Evan, Mike went off to stalk Alex and we don’t know where Randy is.”

“What do you mean you don’t know where Randy is?” Ted asked, surprised and genuinely distracted for the moment.

Cody shrugged, still not looking up, “We can’t get in touch with him.”

The lacklustre response puzzled Ted, “Uh… Aren’t you worried?”

“Honestly? Not at the moment.” He knew that Randy was probably just having one of his days where he needed to stay by himself… both for his own mental state and for the physical state of anyone who happened across his path and did something to fuck him over.

“Oh, right…”

“So, what’s the matter at home?”

“Nothing---”

“Obviously it is something.”

“Can we talk about this later?”

“If I thought you meant that, sure.”

~:~

John knew that if he was caught out of school he would be in big trouble and the teachers would be the least of his problems – his parents were well off but they had made the money themselves and expected that all of their sons would work hard; not necessarily at some hot-shot, high-paid job but at something that made them happy and would support them well enough without relying on others for handouts. They were fair but they expected hard work from all their sons and that included at school, if he was caught skipping then he would be in real trouble. Losing his car and his freedom would be the least of it, his parents also tended to give out unpleasant chores that involved waiting on the other four brothers and having to listen to them lord it over the sibling in trouble. 

John knew all that and it didn't matter. He had to know what was wrong with Randy.   
He had taken his car that morning but he didn't dare to take it then, he'd be noticed right away. That meant he had to walk and so he did, although he was going at a fair pace, not quite running but the thought was clearly there. It didn't take him long to get to Randy's house and from outside it looked like there was no one in. That made sense; his dad would be at work, his siblings at school and his mother volunteered most days at a local charity shop. If Randy was there, he was there all alone. 

John debated banging on the door but the odds were that Randy wouldn't bother to answer. If he was ignoring his phone then he wouldn't come to the door and if he was genuinely ill, then he probably wouldn't be up to it. Fortunately John had dated Randy well enough to know a few things about the house and he blessed his former lover's occasional absent-mindedness as he went past the house and to the garage. It was locked of course, but there was a loose brick in the wall and behind it, a spare key. John took it with very little guilt and let himself into the house, looking around. The alarm wasn't on, which meant that someone was home – the Orton's were very security conscious, particularly as they tended to leave a spare key on the property. But the house was in silence and John could tell from that fact alone that if Randy was home, he was alone and in his own room. 

He started up the stairs and to Randy's room, having a moment of doubt – what if Randy was pissed that he had let himself into the house without permission? In the end he decided he would have to brazen it out and pushed open the door to Randy's room without knocking. He wasn't too surprised to find Randy there, lying on his bed. He was rather more taken aback to find that the other was wearing only his boxers, slung low on his hips to show the V that John had spend many a happy hour tracing with his hands... and his tongue. Randy had a hand lying idly on the waistband of his boxers but as soon as John walked in he snatched it away as if burned. When he saw who it was, he somehow managed to look both slightly annoyed and oddly grateful.

“The hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” John walked into the room and closed the door behind him. “What's wrong? Are you sick?”

“Sick and tired,” said Randy bleakly. 

John sighed and took a seat on the edge of the bed, trying to keep his eyes on Randy's face instead of on his body and well aware of how long it was since he'd last gotten laid. That had been with Randy too, he hadn't indulged in the same idle hook-ups that his former lover had and the last time he'd slept with anyone it had been Randy. Right here in this bed, he realised with some unease. It had been not long before he'd found out about Randy and Justin and they had found themselves with two hours free while no one else was in the house. The chance to be loud and careless was not to be missed and John had enjoyed himself immensely. 

“Is this about yesterday?”

Randy rolled his eyes. “Partly. Partly because of yesterday, because there's some weird-ass shit going on there. Partly because I'm tired of knowing people are talking behind my back and I heard that there's a lot more of it going on today. Partly because I thought I was getting somewhere with you, I was really trying and suddenly it's all gone to shit because someone seems to hate me. I needed a break from all that crap. I just wanted a chance to lie here, think things over and pretend there was no world going on outside.”

John smiled sympathetically. “I know that feeling and – you said someone was talking?”

“I got a text early on telling me that Maria's broadcasting that we have a relationship.” Randy made it sound like a dirty word. “I didn't want to have to explain over and over to you that nothing happened, not today, not when it looks like she's planning on spreading this rumour as far and wide as she can. I don't have the energy for it. I just want a break.” He glanced over at John. “Don't tell me you haven't heard.”

“I heard,” said John. “I had a call this morning. But it's weird – don't you think that if you two had been carrying on, then she would have chosen to spin some other story? I mean, if you had the fight that I walked in on then she would have been more likely to be telling everyone you had been together but she'd dumped you because you were an asshole, or just told the truth and blackened your name. That's not what I heard. I heard that everything's hearts and flowers and that just seems off to me.”

Randy blinked a couple of times. “Well, yeah. Not that I thought of it that way, but that's true. She'd be slagging me from here to next week, not telling everyone there's a love connection.”  
“Right. And that's what made me think your story's more plausible than hers.”

Randy pushed himself into a sitting position. “Are you telling me her trying to cause trouble actually made you believe me?”

John considered. “I wouldn't go that far,” he said honestly. “It wasn't like I disbelieved you before. I didn't know what to think. And there could be a reason she's all sweetness and light, you could have spoken to her or seen her since the fight. But something about this doesn't ring true and 'til I know what's going on, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Randy smiled, the first genuine smile John had seen on his face in the last two days. “Ha, that's ironic. I'd love to tell the bitch she hung herself with her own bullshit.”

“Let's just not engage her in any more talk, okay?” John frowned. “That's a condition of me still talking to you, by the way. I don't want you anywhere near her.”

“I wouldn't go near her on a bet,” said Randy fervently. “I wouldn't go near her if she was shitting gold eggs and had explosive diarrhoea. You don't have to worry about that.” He paused a moment. “I suppose you have to get back to school.”

“Well... “ John grinned. “Ev'll cover for me. I suppose I could feed you chicken soup and wipe your fevered brow.”

Randy laughed a little. “I have a better idea. Why don't you get your ass over here next to me and I can show you how much better I feel?”

John frowned. “I don't know Randy, that's not really a good idea. Just because I believe you over this doesn't mean I haven't forgotten everything we said about--”

Randy moved himself over, sitting beside John and resting a hand on the side of John's face. “I forgot it,” he said quietly. “I forgot everything, I haven't been able to think about anything but you for weeks. You're all I want and I want to be able to prove it to you.”

John tried to remember what it was that he had been objecting to, they had been perfectly good objections, great objections but he had forgotten every single one of them. And when Randy closed the distance between them and kissed him, John forgot every reason he'd ever had not to get caught up with Randy again.

~:~

For a wonder, Maryse's father was home that night, although her mother was still working. Sometimes Maryse wondered if it would be better to have a trophy mother who spent money and was usually home for meals, but soon dismissed the idea. She preferred her own space and her mother would simply cramp her style. Even with her father there she was a little lost for conversation, although she managed to sound as cheerful as she always did around him. Since her earliest childhood she had been a daddy's girl. 

Mostly her father wanted to know how she was faring in the house alone for most of the time, save for a housekeeper (with whom Maryse had an understanding – she stayed out of the way and Maryse didn't tell her father that the woman wasn't doing all the hours she was paid for). Maryse was always sure to tell him that she was Queen Bee around the school, since that was the real reason she'd been sent – until she was fourteen she had been home educated by excellent teachers and she still had several coaches of various types. When she had been a child her tutors had taught her plenty of scholastics but she'd also been educated in music, dance and singing and more recently she had a personal trainer and extra tuition in art, the only subject she truly enjoyed. She spent a while telling her father all of this while the housekeeper made them steaks and salad, Maryse knowing that she would have to allow herself to eat all of it and burn of the calories in the morning. Her father was a typical man who somehow thought that she should manage to remain a size zero while eating like a trucker. 

It wasn't until they were sat down for their meal that her father got to the topic of Mike. Of course they had been intended to date since as long as she could remember and as far as their parents knew it was a monogamous match made in heaven. It had never been that but at least it had always been the two of them as an established couple. Now they weren't together... not that she was going to admit that. She hoped to have Mike crawling back on his belly long before she had to admit that there had been a bump in the road – although her father was a large part of her plan. 

She sighed a little and shrugged, careful not to overdo it. “He's fine,” she said, in French. 

Her father picked up on the not-so-subtle signals and raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure? You don't sound fine,” he replied, also in French. Most of their conversations together were done in such a way because they didn't like anyone understanding what they were saying to one another and they were alike in that neither one cared if it was rude or not. 

“No, everything is as it always is between us,” returned Maryse, a little subdued and lying through her teeth. “It's just that he has a new friend that I don't like and – well, I've found out something about him that I'm not sure if I should share with him. He likes this boy so much that he'd probably accuse me of making trouble or something along those lines.”

“I doubt that Mike thinks you're a troublemaker,” her father said comfortingly. “He may be annoyed that you have looked into this boys past at first but in the end he will realise that you acted in his best interests. Is this boy new in town?”

“He is, he just started at Mike's school.” Maryse pushed her steak around her plate. “But daddy, it's not that I have found he was expelled from his last school or has some petty criminal record. It's worse than that.”

“How bad can it be?”

Maryse stood, going over to a drawer where she had kept what little she had found on the internet – it helped that the file had given her a starting point but she was not about to admit to her own deceit. She had managed to chase down where Alex had come from and spent most of his time and although there had been a suspicious silence in most of the media, it wasn't a story that could be kept hidden completely. 

She took the newspaper articles that she had found out of the drawer and handed them to her father, who took them as she sat again and looked them over. He had continued eating for a moment but within seconds he had put down his fork and was reading the articles with something akin to horror.

“This boy--”

“I don't think Mike can know anything about this,” Maryse said, eyes downcast. “And I don't want to make his life harder if he's been moving from place to place as I think he must have been. But I'm afraid for Mike's well-being.”

“As you should be.” Her father's expression was stony. “Don't worry about this darling. We shall make sure that Mike knows of this--”

“You can't talk to him!” said Maryse in panic. “It can't come from me! He'll never speak to me again!”

“I think that you underestimate him,” said her father, then softened a little. “But if you are that afraid then I shall ensure that it doesn't come back to either one of us. I shall speak with his father and show him these clippings you have. I'll ask him for his discretion and to say he found them himself, that he heard Mike has been spending time with this boy instead of his other friends and wanted to check for himself that the boy was a suitable companion.” He looked at Maryse steadily. “I hope you are not afraid this boy will harm you in any way.”

That hadn't even occurred to Maryse but it was a great excuse and she shrugged. “I don't intend to let him try.”

“Carry your mace with you,” her father warned. “And don't worry. From the look of this, it seems that he has moved from at least four other schools, probably when he has been caught out. I would imagine that he will be leaving again when Mike finds this out.”

Maryse didn't quite jump up and clap her hands, but it was a close thing – Alex being run out of town was everything that she could hope for and she knew her father would probably do all that he could if he thought Maryse even felt threatened. “Thank you daddy,” she said and got up again to give him a hug. 

“Anything for my baby girl,” he replied, hugging her back and turning his attention back to the articles when she went to finish the meal. Maryse was thorough. She had managed to get hold of a class list for several of the schools that Alex had already been to, showing his nomadic education. But that wasn't the part that caught his attention. The article from a city newspaper all the way at the other side of the country was the one his eyes kept wandering back to, the headline reading in bold type: RILEY ACQUITED. 

No, this was not the type of boy that any date of his daughter should be acquainted with. And Mike would see things the same way as soon as his father presented him with the evidence that Riley was a bad influence and best out of his life.


	11. Chapter Ten: Truth Comes Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ((*Mentions of rape in this chapter, so please take care if triggered. The areas will be asterisked so you may skip over them*))
> 
> Alex's traumatic past is finally revealed, and Ted messes up big time.

“What can I do for you old friend?” Mr Mizanin wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he and Mr Ouellette would probably be nowhere near as tolerant to one another outside of business had they not had such a potential impact on the future of one another’s businesses but that didn’t matter; what mattered was that they had made their plans and would stick to them to the letter, and they had one another as an excuse for a game of golf or a drink down the local businessmen’s place after work should they not want to head home immediately.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s important.”

Something in Ouellette’s tone made Mizanin sit up a little further in his desk chair.

“What is it? Is Maryse well? Your wife?”

“Oui, oui, they are both well, but… well, Maryse is concerned, both for herself and Michael. She had brought something to my attention--- something that will affect your boy greatly.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Is there somewhere we can meet? Talking about zis over ze phone could be a little, how you say, delicate.”

“I understand. Is he in trouble?”

“Non, well, he won’t be if we act quickly.”

“I can meet you tomorrow for brunch. We have the charity auction this evening. I trust you will be attending too?”

“Oui. Actually, I could probably catch you during the auction. I only really need to pass something to you, and to acquire that you shall promise not to mention zat my daughter was ze one to bring zis to our attention.”

“You have my word. Very well, I shall see you later on tonight, goodbye for now.”

~::~

He shouldn’t be kissing him.

God, how much had he missed kissing him?

He should pull away now—this had gone far enough.

No way… not far enough until there wasn’t a shred of distance or clothing between them.

The need to breathe was what finally forced John back from Randy, although his ex didn’t seem even remotely interested in letting that distance become too big; their foreheads remaining rested together as they both struggled for breath.

“Randy—” John’s cheeks bloomed slightly with colour as he opened his eyes, the usually sky blue darkened a more wintery sort of blue, taking in the almost hungry and desperate expression upon Randy’s own face and reflected in his stormy eyes, then trailing down Randy’s exposed chest until he saw---

And why was he surprised that Randy was hard? He’d always claimed just thinking about John got him hard. It had always been good for John’s ego, except for when Randy started fooling around… because then he wondered how many other people he had told that particular line to.

“John,” Randy murmured, his hand rubbing lightly up and down outside of the edge of John’s denim-clad thigh, causing his leg to twitch somewhat with each movement, his own groin stirring, “John, I love you,” Randy knew that there was every chance John would be pushing him away in mere moments and so he knew that he had to tell him To forget all the theatrics and all that other shit for the moment and just tell him honestly, “I fucked-up royally, and I know you’ll most likely never quite forgive me no matter what I do, but I’m gonna keep working at it, and I just need you to know: I love you. I’ve only ever loved you.”

And that was the gospel truth.

Closing his eyes John inhaled a deep breath and wished he had some sort of guidance on how the hell he should handle the situation. Getting involved sexually with Randy again would be a risk (and he didn’t mean the kind of risk Randy had already disproved with his test results) but at the same time he wanted nothing more than to be held by the boy he loved, the boy who had made him feel things he’d never felt before--- even though not all of those feelings had been good. Yet, as much as he wanted to lose himself in Randy the way that he used to do he couldn’t quite turn his mind off to just let his body do as it wanted.

“Randy, I can’t—”

“Shh, you don’t have to answer me now, John. Just… let me kiss you again?”

Already John was angling his lips towards Randy’s as the question was being asked.

Kissing, he could handle the kissing. He just had to keep a rein not to go any further for his own sake.

~::~

Sadly, things hadn’t improved with Ted that day in Cody’s view; the blonde was jumpier than a prison snitch, glancing around continuously as though he was expecting someone to appear and grab him any moment. Whenever Cody tried to ask him about what was going on though the other would merely segue the conversation or carry on as though Cody hadn’t asked him anything in the first place. It had been incredibly frustrating and in the end Cody actually found himself glad that he had to go to school instead of listening to Ted’s excuses and weak ramblings about things that he knew the blonde had absolutely no interest in.

When Ted had actually tried to apologise to him at one point though Cody knew something was seriously wrong.

And it was on that note that he decided to head across to Ted’s house after school when he knew for a fact that his boyfriend wasn’t going to be there; Ted had soccer practice that evening, and so Cody knew he had a good hour and a half to see if he could find out anything that would help put the other at ease.

Dustin had tried to talk him out of it when Cody had bumped into his brother when he’d gotten home after school (deciding on a quick snack the way he always did) saying that Ted would likely consider in an unwanted interference if Cody got involved, but Cody didn’t and couldn’t change his course of action: Ted had been acting much too weird, even for him.

He hadn’t even been that uptight when his parents had arrived home upon them being in the midst of their first date.

Unsurprisingly that was another thing that had Dustin leery about his relationship with Ted even though he was well-aware that Cody had fallen in love with the boy long before he had even truly known what love was. Hell, Dustin doubted truly that Cody himself understood the magnitude of his feelings regardless of how old they were.

So, once his snack was over Cody drove to Ted’s home, parking on the street out front and lightly bouncing out of the car and heading up the front drive.

He’d already formulated the excuse of borrowing some of Ted’s Science notes to explain why he was there. There was a chance of course that the excuse would fall flat but everyone knew that Ted was good at Science and it was hardly Cody’s favourite subjects, so hopefully Ted’s parents had taken enough of an interest in him to know that much.

Knocking on the door he gave his best smile.

Moments later the door opened, revealing Ted’s mother, who looked momentarily surprised to see him before she smiled warmly at him, “Cody, hello dear, Theodore’s not home right now—”

“Oh I know Mrs DiBise, and I’m sorry to bother you, it’s just that Ted was supposed to lend me some notes to help with our Science homework and he forgot… he told me it would be OK to come over and pick them up,” he hoped that his innocent act was working as well as he usually depended upon it doing, because if he was caught out now then everything would probably just get worse for Ted.

“Oh, come on in then.”

Once inside she directed Cody up to Ted’s room, following him, and he made a show of looking though Ted’s folder for Science notes and copying them down in a manner that proved he wasn’t attempting to copy any of the blonde’s work. When Mrs DiBiase offered him a glass of fresh lemonade before he left Cody couldn’t bring himself to say no. He didn’t know why Ted was so worried about coming out to her; she seemed like the type of woman who’d love him regardless.

“Cody, may I ask you something?”

“Of course ma’am.”

“How was Ted at school today?”

Cody almost choked on his drink, “Um, why do you ask?” he asked, hoping she didn’t notice.

~::~

“Punk… is something bothering you?”

“Hm?” Punk looked up from his homework to see Evan sending him a smile that was both affectionately amused and yet with an undercurrent of concern. “Why do you ask?” he asked in return, sitting up a little more; they were currently in Evan’s living-room, some snacks spread out over the coffee-table that Evan’s mother had gotten in for them upon finding out that they were going to be having another study session.

Punk had the feeling that she knew the real nature of their relationship but he wasn’t about to confirm or deny it to her either way until Evan was ready to sit her down and tell her. He didn’t blame his lover for wanting to hold back on that for a while.

Everything had been kind of messed up for everyone else they knew relationship-wise and all.

“I’ve just… had this feeling today. You seem bothered by something.”

It could have been because of the way the staff at school had suddenly become oddly tense as well that had had Evan thinking something was off, but after their meeting at lunch he had recognised the signs that there was something on his lover’s mind.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he blushed and ducked his head, “But if it’s something I can help with… I’d like to.”

He was so cute.

Reaching out Punk cupped one of Evan’s cheeks in his hand and drew him close, kissing him slowly, thoroughly, with passion and yet with finesse. They had most of the evening together after all, they needn’t go mental about things when they had time yet.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you Ev,” Punk didn’t usually consider himself loose-lipped per se, but since speaking to Mike and not seeing that the other had done anything with the information he had told him about he couldn’t help but think that something bigger was happening here than any of them had honestly anticipated, “It’s just… it’s not really about me and you’re probably going to think I’m stupid for being so worked up about it.”

Immediately Evan shifted slightly so that he was facing more towards Punk, unspeaking, but his eyes conveying that he wanted the other to continue.

So, cutting the long story short, Punk told Evan about Alex’s folder being stolen, and how Alex had reacted to the news. It was reassuring to see that Evan looked as troubled as he did considering he usually wouldn’t want to bring information to Evan that could cause him alarm or a problem.

“Alex mentioned counsellors?”

“Yeah.”

“What could he need counselling over?”

“Have you ever seen him taking anything? Medicine? Or filling in a journal? Talking to himself?”

“No, no and no, and he hasn’t mentioned anything,” and since Evan had had a vague interest in psychology at one point and read numerous volumes on the subject he’d like to think he’d at least pick up some kind of sign if there was anything like that that they could do with knowing about their friend.

“But it seemed serious. I was just wondering if maybe he’d told you anything.”

“Alex doesn’t talk about himself much.”

“Really now?” considering how close he had become to the two boys Evan considered his best friends, and himself, that was a little odd. “What about his parents?” he asked curiously.

They could be worried for nothing, and Alex’s reticence to open-up could be entirely innocent, but Punk would feel reassured only when they knew that for a fact from the man himself.

“His mother’s dead and his dad… isn’t home much.”

“You think they have problems?”

Evan bit his lip, “Alex… Doesn’t seem to like his father much.” It was obvious in his eyes and his voice, and on his face, whenever he had to speak about the man, that he obviously held a lot of ill-will towards him. But, really, that was hardly a circumstance that should arouse suspicion: many teenagers had tumultuous relationships with their parents.

But little did they know that it was all because of Alex’s father, and the money he had earned, that Alex had been targeted when he had when he was younger, the money and his father’s own bad judgement, as well as a painful lack of interest in his own son since his wife died. The rift had been created at a tender age, and no amount of counsellors and therapy had been enough to help father and son patch things up again even this many years down the line.

~:~

Cody tried looking innocent as Mrs DiBiase looked at him, but he was mildly worried that beneath that good-humoured expression was a mind like a steel trap. She didn't seem entirely convinced by his attempted change of subject. 

“I only ask because Ted's planning on asking a young lady to go on a date with him--”

Cody almost blew it, almost spat out his drink and screamed a young LADY?!? But somehow he managed to keep a straight face, even though there was a piece of his heart that felt as if it was shrivelling. 

“--And to be honest, I don't think he's very happy with the idea.” She smiled. “His father suggested it, I know that this lady's rather taken with our boy. But then, who wouldn't be?”

Cody had to agree with the last part, but he didn't trust himself to speak. 

“Maybe he's shy, or scared that she'll reject him.” A single-shouldered shrug. “I'm sure you understand. It must be terrifying for a young man to put himself on the line over a girl, but he seemed very quiet this morning.”

“He's been uh, a little distracted at school today,” said Cody, his mind racing. He was almost sure that she wasn't telling him everything, but why would she? As far as she was concerned, he was just one of Ted's school friends and nothing more, it was none of his business. “Maybe a little quiet. But we don't have that many classes together today, so I couldn't tell you for sure.”

“Right.” Mrs DiBiase nodded, then smiled again. “Did you get everything you needed? Because I should start on dinner – a houseful of men means that mealtimes are like a zoo!”

Cody recognised a dismissal when he heard it and stood, wondering if the lemonade had been cover to ask him about Ted's state of mind. “Thank you for the drink, it's lovely – I wish my mother could make lemonade like that!”

Mrs DiBiase laughed. “I'm sure you wouldn't swap her for all the lemonade in the world.”

“The world? No. But the universe? I'd have to think about that!” Cody's mouth was working independently of his brain, which was focused firmly on the problem of Ted and this girl he was supposed to be asking out. Maybe if he put on a skirt, he'd be in a position to hit her for even daring consider it...? No, that was probably pushing it. 

As soon as he was out of the house, his fixed smile died. It sounded as though Ted's father had put him up to the date, which he couldn't understand to begin with. His own father would never interfere in his life that way. But more than that, he didn't know why Ted hadn't just told him to butt out of his life. Why he hadn't used the chance to tell his father that he was seeing someone, thanks for the concern. 

That hurt. That Ted would rather lie to him than admit to being with him hurt more than he would have expected. That he would ask someone for a date rather than just admit to being with him was more painful than he imagined and while he could accept that Ted didn't want to tell his parents yet, that he would actually use a girl to cover up his homosexuality was like a knife to the heart. He shoved his hands in his pockets and ambled home, his heart heavy. And when his phone bleeped, he was too depressed by the situation to even see who wanted to speak to him. 

~:~

“Michael.” 

Mike blinked himself awake, rolling over in bed and groaning. He had elected to stay at home that night rather than going to Alex's, although he wanted to go over there – Alex had been in a strange mood and he was worried for him. But Alex had said he wanted to be alone and Mike took him at his word. 

Now he was wondering if his sleep might have been better if he had gone to Alex's house. Mike's father was standing in the doorway and that, combined with his full christian name, suggested he was in plenty of trouble. But the man didn't seem angry, merely perturbed. For some reason, that didn't fill Mike with comfort. 

“What's up?”

Mr Mizanin walked into the room and closed the door softly behind him, sitting on the computer chair next to the desk as Mike, resigned to the fact he wasn't about to get to sleep until the man had spoken to him, sat up and watched him warily. All he could think was that the ending of his relationship with Maryse had been discovered, but he didn't seem nearly angry enough for that. 

“I heard that you've made a new friend,” said his father contemplatively. “Alex. I hear that you've been spending quite a bit of time with him.”

Toni, the bitch was Mike's first thought but he kept it to himself. And in any case, if she had elaborated further then his father should be angrier, while if she had said only that he'd got a new friend his father would hardly be mentioning it in the middle of the night. In any case, it looked like his father had come straight in from the charity thing he'd been doing that night and wouldn't he have said something earlier if Toni had grassed him up?

“Alex is cool,” he said casually. “I don't see that it's worth waking me up for though. You meet his dad there or something?”

“No. I hear that his father's away quite a lot anyway.”

Mike said nothing but he was starting to feel real disquiet over the situation. Why did his father know so much, and why did he even care?

“Michael...” Mr Mizanin sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You know I want to look out for you, right? Which is why something about this kid – well, the name sounded familiar so I did a little digging. And it turns out that your new friend has an uh, unsavoury past.”

Mike sighed in exasperation. “Jeez, you woke me up for this? What did he do, a little shoplifting, ran away from home?”

“Try murder.”

Mike stared for a moment, the words not making any sense. Robbery was bad, drug dealing was bad, but murder was just – unthinkable. Alex wasn't violent at all, he wasn't the kind of person who would.... and then the actuality of the words sank in, the realisation that his father wasn't making it up, and sheer horror hit him in the gut with the force of a physical blow. 

“No...” 

“I'm sorry.” Mr Mizanin really did look sorry, he looked very worried as well. Mike knew that the man might be willing to push him into a relationship with Maryse for the good of his own business but he wouldn't put him in any physical danger and would do what he could to keep him away from a threat. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out some print-outs, toying with them for a moment but not handing them over. “When he was twelve, young Alex was kidnapped by two men – his father's very, very wealthy and once his mother was dead, he hired a housekeeper who helped the pair to snatch him, it was proven later. His father was out of the country, working – that man's so rich that he makes us look like we're on the way to the poorhouse. The father paid the ransom but the moment the boy got free he shot one of the kidnappers with his own gun.”

Mike felt – numb. That would explain Alex's reluctance to talk about his past, maybe even the cold relationship he had with his father and why he was so panicked about his file going missing. It would be in there, what had happened, and if someone were to find out what happened....

The thought kicked off something else in his head but he was too busy trying to wrap his head around Alex's past to give it much attention. 

“But – that sounds more like he didn't have a choice--”

“The money was paid. They were letting him go. There was some kind of hearing but he wasn't charged in the end. However, he's killed once and... well, I don't like the idea of you being anywhere near someone like that.”

“Whoa, wait.” Mike held his hand up, suddenly alarmed more by the fact that he wasn't allowed to see Alex than he was about what Alex had done. “It sounds like he was justified in doing that. If I were kidnapped, wouldn't you want me to do whatever it took to escape?”

“Not if it involved risking your life,” said his father sharply. “And murder changes people. I'll bet that he sees psychiatrists and councillors to this day. He's probably unstable. He's probably violent, he's shown that he can act on those urges. And didn't he threaten to beat up some boy at your school?”

“Randy,” said Mike automatically. “But it wasn't like that – Randy thought he was dating John, got the wrong idea and he was the one who said he'd beat up Alex. Alex was just, y'know, not letting himself be intimidated.”

“I think we should warn Randy exactly what kind of person he's feuding with--”

“They made up! They're not friends, but they're—”

“Randy could be hurt. I should call his parents in the morning, warn them what kind of boy made threats to their son.”

“Dad, no.” Mike leaned forward, trying to use all his charm on the man, not that it had worked in the past. “If you start telling people then soon everyone'll know. You went to high school, you know what it's like. How long before people start shouting at him in the corridor? How long before someone sprays murderer on his locker? How long before the rumours start and the whole thing gets twisted? Dammit dad, you must know that he deserves a little peace!”

“Not at the expense of your safety, or anyone else's.” Mr Mizanin stood up. “That's the end of it Michael, I don't want you going anywhere near this boy again. And I'll ask Mr Orton not to spread the gossip but he needs to know. Probably I should speak to John's parents too, what're their names?”

Mike refused to answer that one; John had four brothers and if they had so much as a whiff of scandal then it would be all over town in a day. “Dad, you can't do this to Alex. You can't do this to me! I like hanging around with Alex and just because something terrible happened to him, that doesn't make him a terrible person. Hell, can't you have a little compassion?”

His father stood there in his suit and something else clicked for Mike. “Didn't you just come straight from the charity night? If you're so concerned, why wouldn't you speak to me about it earlier?”

“I didn't have the information earlier, I went online as soon as I got back--”

“Really? Or did Maryse give it to you?”

“Maryse wasn't even there!”

“But her dad was I bet, or her mom, or both.” Mike clenched his fists, knowing that he wasn't being clever but spoiling for a fight. Being banned from seeing Alex wasn't fair and he had the dismal feeling that the discovery had a lot to do with Alex's missing file and while his dad would never admit it, there had to be a connection. Someone was using that information to out Alex over his past. 

“That sly bitch--”

“Don't speak about Maryse that way! You should have more respect for your girlfriend--”

“She's not my girlfriend! I ditched her ages ago!”

“Mike!” His father sounded taken aback and was starting to sound pissed off as well. 

“What? Why not? I didn't like her very much then and I'm starting to really hate her now! She's a manipulative, conniving, evil bitch on wheels and she's like a trampoline, everyone gets a bounce!”

“You stop that right now.” 

“Oh, you don't like that I call her out? Or that without us two pretending that we can stand one another, your business links are frayed? Damn, if you cared enough about me to stop me seeing someone who's just had a bad time of things, you could care enough not to force me on someone who makes me miserable! But as soon as it affects you, I can go to hell, right? Well, here's news for you – I won't stop seeing Alex and there's no way in hell that I'm going anywhere near Maryse, ever again. Do what you like, punish, whatever, but I'm not about to keep on compromising myself and what makes me happy. This is my life and you can't keep on trying to run it for me!”

“Michael,” said his father heavily. “This is my roof and you will follow my rules. I don't want you near that boy ever again. As for Maryse, she had nothing at all to do with this and that you're blaming her for the actions of that boy says more about you than it does about her. Maybe you can smooth things over, tell her you made a mistake--”

“Oh, there's been no mistake.”

“But we'll discuss that tomorrow. Maybe you could do something nice for her.” He sighed and Mike wondered if the man had heard a word he'd said. “Stay away from Alex, if he won't take the hint then threaten him with exposure. But try not to make him angry in case he snaps. Again. And we'll deal with the Maryse situation in the morning.”

Mike growled but he managed somehow to bite his tongue. He didn't want to drag this out all of a sudden. He just wanted his father to go to bed and then perhaps he could get out of the house, make his way to Alex. He had to see the boy and the morning would be too late. He needed to see him now. 

It took over an hour. He could hear his parents getting ready for bed, retiring. Their room was too far away to be sure they were sleeping but there was no question of him dozing off. He was far too keyed up. He managed to wait another half an hour before he simply couldn't wait another moment; he pulled on his jeans from the day before that had been left in an untidy heap on the floor, a black sweater that he usually wouldn't have dreamed of wearing around someone he wanted to impress and crept out of the house. There were no shouts for him to come back and he had to assume that he had made it without a problem. 

He had remembered his phone, although not his wallet (not that there was anything to buy this late at night or anything that he wanted in particular). As he hurried toward Alex's house, he called the boy's number, hoping that he was awake. If he didn't wake up...

“Mmm, 'lo?”

“Alex!” Mike was ready to shout but remembered that it was the middle of the night and people were sleeping. “It's me. I'm on my way, can you let me in?”

“Why?” Alex sounded fully awake now. “What's happened?”

“I can't go into it on the phone,” said Mike urgently. “But I need to see you. Now.”

There was a small silence and then Alex spoke, sounding worried. “I'll be on the step waiting for you. Are you okay?”

“I – well. Sort of.” Mike laughed without humour. “I'll be there soon.”

~::~

To say Alex was pretty damned panicked by the time Mike came heading down the drive was an understatement. He was only clad in some lounge pants and despite the seriousness of the situation Mike couldn’t help admiring the exposed torso before him; if only he was there for a cheeky booty-call as opposed to what was likely to be a traumatic experience for both concerned.

“Mike,” he murmured urgently, “What is it?”

“Can I come in.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Alex stepped back, motioning for him to come in.

Kicking his shoes off Mike turned towards Alex, “Is your dad home?”

“No,” Alex said, shrugging, “He won’t be back until Monday. Unless he decides to stay longer. He does that sometimes.” There was something unspoken in the silence at the end of Alex’s sentence, and had Mike not now discovered what he had then there was every chance he would have just continued to write it off as nothing. “Why?” Alex added afterwards.

“I was just wondering if we were going to be interrupted is all.”

Alex’s concern and unease increased ten-fold as he led Mike into the living-room as he went on through to the kitchen, fetching two cans of pop from the fridge and then bringing them back to where his kind-of-boyfriend sat.

“So… Um, what is it?”

“Alex… I got told something about you today,” Mike felt his heart leap at the stricken look that appeared on Alex’s face; it was most likely that he had intended his face to remain smooth, composed, but in that moment Mike genuinely thought that the bigger boy might break down into tears.

“Wh-What did you hear?”

“You… You were kidnapped.”

Ok, definitely not the way he had thought about going through this conversation, but now it was out there and he couldn’t stop himself.

“I heard you were kidnapped for ransom and that… that one of the men died. You went to court over it.”

Alex looked as though he was about to keel over and throw up, terror and… a miserably expectant despondency present all at once. His mouth worked but no sound came out, and he seemed to give up for a moment before giving it another go--- and his voice came out hoarse, barely audible.

“Who told you?”

“My dad.”

“Your—“Alex moaned, choking as he covered his face with his hands, “I knew this was going to happen! I knew it! Why can’t people just leave me alone? Why can’t people just let me get on with my life?” his voice cracked, lowering his hands then to look at Mike, “Is that what you’ve come to tell me? That you don’t want anything to do with me anymore?” Alex’s voice continued to rise, his cheeks becoming red, and yet Mike still wasn’t frightened. On the contrary.

He wanted to do nothing more than envelop Alex in his arms, kiss him and promise him that everything would be OK and that nothing would ever hurt him again.

“Alex—“he started, but the other didn’t appear to hear him: Alex was on a complete rant.

“You think I’m some sort of deviant monster, huh? That just because those men were going to let me go I should have just been a good boy and let them rape me, to keep the time smooth until my dad could get the money together for the trade-off?”

This time Mike grabbed Alex’s shoulders, shaking the now standing boy somewhat, eyes wide and his own face now pale, “They--- they raped you?” hadn’t he only been like recently turned fourteen or something?

For a moment it looked as though Alex was going to continue ranting and then he paused, confusion flitting over his face momentarily, “You… You said you already knew what had happened.”

“I didn’t know that—“and that only further supplemented Mike’s suspicions that Maryse had something to do with the stealing of Alex’s folder, and the fact that only information that would lead to Alex gaining an unsavoury reputation would have been supplied to her father, and his, “My dad… he never mentioned anything about you being r—that happening.”

He couldn’t even bring himself to say the word, mind valiantly struggling to keep the horrific images of a younger, smaller, scared and defenceless Alex being faced with that prospect.

He guided the other to sit back down, hand tight around the other boy’s to assure him that he wasn’t about to leave, “Alex… Tell me what happened. I need to know.”

“Sounds to me like you know enough already,” Alex mumbled, clearly still scared and defensive.

“No,” Mike said flatly, “I know what someone else has said. On a side note I think I know who stole your folder—“Alex’s mouth opened but Mike shushed him, “But I’ll deal with that for you later. For now… If I’m going to be with you, and I’m going to stand up and support you if shit goes down… I need to know what I’m defending you against.”

A hopeful look that made Alex look about ten years younger crossed his face as though he almost didn’t dare let himself believe what Mike was implying, “You… You still want to be with me? Even though I’m—“his mouth pinched and his eyes looked glassy, but Mike would probably bet that Alex hadn’t cried for years, since this had first happened, “damaged goods.”

Of course none of the adults he had dealt with ever called him that to his face, but he had heard his dad using the phrase to the numerous psychologists that he had seen over the years. Each one costing more, becoming more obnoxious and providing him with no more new information than he’d been subjected to right after The Incident.

Mike gripped Alex’s cheeks, holding his face firmly in place.

The sudden kiss startled Alex for several seconds before he then returned it, pouring all of his passion, upset, hurt and panic into the kiss, his arms locking around Mike’s middle like a steel band. At first when the salty taste intruded on the kiss Mike almost didn’t realise what was happening… but when they pulled back and he could see the few tears that had escaped Alex’s eyes resting on his cheeks and trailing down around his lips to his chin.

“Don’t you ever say that about yourself. Ever. You are not damaged, you hear me?”

“Yes Mike,” Alex said a little meekly, startled by how vehemently the other defended him. He made a mental note never to mention that his dad was the one who had coined that phrase… not that he was every really anticipating bringing anything about this up to his father anyway if he had to. Whenever he had tried to talk to him in the past the man had just made excuses or left, or supplied him with the ‘automated’ responses that he had found penned in one of his earliest psychologist’s handwriting in his father’s desk drawer one day when he had been snooping around, motivated as he was by childish curiosity.

“So…” Mike repeated gently as he took Alex’s hands again, expression softening, “Will you tell me what happened? If you can’t then--- maybe you could write it down? Or would that be worse? Sorry, I know this is probably so fucking hard for you and yet I—”

“No…” Alex swallowed thickly, “Well, yeah, it is but… you’re right. I should tell you. I should have told my friends too…” after all, he had been warned even from day one that there was every chance something like this could happen to him again (hence why he and his father moved so much, it wasn’t always just because someone snooped into his past for whatever reason and then outed what had happened to him) and as such he should spare a thought for those around him. Having friends could be a liability, he had been told, he could put them in danger… it was usually why he was polite and engaging during school but didn’t really have much to do with anyone outside of it. Actually, John and the others were the first people he had gotten close to in terms of actual friendship for about three years, maybe a little bit more if he could sit there and give an accurate estimate of the days.

~::~

It had started out, as people always said these kind of stories do, on a typical day like any other.

Alex had arrived home from school one lunchtime the way he always did for lunch, the driver waiting outside for him (a weedy little guy called Jamie something who Alex had never liked; he reminded him of a rodent, twitchy and nervous) until he was finished, also the same as usual.

Victoria, his sort-of-nanny/the family housekeeper, had his sandwich ready for him as usual, and a drink. She had smiled to him, joked and talked with him the same as usual, filling the otherwise lonely silence with her throaty voice. Alex had always thought that she had a strange kind of voice in that Victoria sounded much deeper than the other women he was usually exposed to at his dad’s boring business dinners and such. Her dark hair, quite overt and smoky make-up had also made her a bit of an odd choice he knew now in retrospect; their prior house-keepers were all in the 40-60 age-range and motherly. His father had never explained why he had chosen her other than she apparently had glowing references… Alex now suspected though that his father had just wanted to fuck her.

But he was digressing.

Anyway, he had been eating the sandwich and everything had been fine… it had only been when he was drinking his drink that things had started to get hazy.

When he awoke Jamie was behind the wheel, Victoria was sitting next to him, and an unknown man whose face even to this day he couldn’t conjure, was on his other side. Jamie had been talking, voice uncontrollably high and panicked, whereas the other man had had a low voice that was cold as the gun poking into the back of his neck.

Victoria had been on his other side, but when Alex had started to plead with her, to ask what was happening, she hit him. She wasn’t smiling anymore… at least, the way her lips were fixed certainly didn’t seem like a smile to him.

They kept him bound on a filthy mattress in some hovel for over 24 hours before they finally called his father.

Ten million dollars, they wanted. In less than five days from then on, or Alex was dead.

It had passed in a monotonous blur of fear, hunger, pain and no sleep for Alex. Whenever he did something wrong (like wetting himself when they wouldn’t take him outside to use the bathroom, since Victoria forbade him from going near the toilet for a reason he now knew to be as her fear of him leaving extra DNA behind if they were caught out sooner than they anticipated) then he was physically punched, kicked or otherwise punished.

Apparently he had been all but unrecognisable when they had taken him to hospital after the rescue raid was made.

****When the unknown man had attempted to rape him for the fifth (or maybe sixth time… he’d lost count quickly) the night before said raid… Alex didn’t know where Jamie and Victoria had gone, but after shooting the man he remembered passing out, or finally falling asleep, and then awakening to find a man in a police-uniform assuring him he was going to be OK and being carried to an ambulance. Victoria was screaming, he remembered, as they dragged her outside, Jamie having turned himself in without a struggle, she had been screaming that Alex was a murderer, that she had been held hostage herself and had wanted no part of any of it.****

“Of course,” Alex lamented lightly to Mike when he finally finished his tale, the other boy still sitting silently (and Alex would bet that had anyone else been there they would have made some comment about how they had never known Mike to be so quiet and attentive in all of his life) listening to him, “Luckily the jury didn’t believe her when she was brought to trial. I think they said she’ll be about fifty or sixty when she gets out.”

Sure, like would have been preferable, for her and Jamie, but he couldn’t only take what the law would give. And he was just happy if he never had to face either of them again.

When Mike flung his arms around his neck in a tight embrace Alex hung on as though he’d never let go.

~::~

“Cody?”

“Oh… Hi Ted.”

“Are--- is everything OK? I mean,” Ted blushed as he realised how whiny he was about to seem, “I’ve been trying to call you all afternoon.”

Moodily Cody threw a soft sponge-ball against the wall and managed to catch it before the weak ricochet gave out, “Oh, did you? I would have thought you’d been too busy for me.”

Something about Cody’s tone made Ted startle slightly; he had never heard Cody talk to him like that before, and he’d be lying if he said he appreciated it… He didn’t like it.

“Have I done something wrong? I mean, I told you I had soccer today.”

“It wasn’t soccer that I thought you were busy with, Ted.”

“What else could it be?” Ted asked, a sinking feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.

Did Cody know?

But how could he? Ted hadn’t told anyone but Evan--- and Evan wouldn’t tell on him he was sure.

“How was your date?” Cody asked, all of his prior thoughts of remaining calm flying out of the window in seconds as the word burned like acid on his tongue which he spat down the phone.

“D-Date?”

“Yes Ted, you’re d-d-date. Was she a pretty girl? I do hope she is. I mean, if you’re going to be using her as your beard so no one finds out about me she better be damned good looking.”

Sweat started to bead on Ted’s brow, his heart skipping uncomfortably as he heard the timbre of painful, painful hurt reverberating in the undercurrent of Cody’s words.

“Cody, please, it’s not like—”

“You know, I told myself I could wait for you. I get how hard it is to come out, believe me I do—“even though his father was probably one of the most tolerant and accepting men Cody had ever known (which he’d probably have to be considering that he already had one cross-dressing son) it had still been a scary experience for Cody. Especially when he’d only been fifteen at the time of the pressure of his ‘secret’ causing him to cave. The fact that his mom and dad both had kind of already figured out about his preferences had made the situation a touch easier of course, “—but I told myself that I would never be a dirty little secret for anyone. That I would never be with someone who can’t accept who they are.”

“Cody!” Ted’s voice cracked slightly, panic welling in his chest, “Please listen to me--!”

“—I won’t pretend to be something I’m not for anyone Ted. And that includes the boy I love.”

Silence fell between them, Ted’s mouth hanging open. His mind struggled to comprehend what had just been said to him even though his heart was going through such erratic palpitations that he thought he was going to have some kind of seizure.

“The--- the one you--- me?”

It didn’t seem possible.

“I’ve been in love with you for at least three years, Ted,” Cody said quietly, and the painful finality in his voice set Ted’s panic radar off anew, “But I won’t sit there waiting, watching as you date this girl, fuck this girl, get this girl pregnant and then marry her because you couldn’t stand up to your dad and tell him the truth. Goodbye Ted.”

The dial-tone that filled his head didn’t haunt Ted’s dreams that night anywhere near as much as the automated voice-mail message on Cody’s phone as the boy continued to ignore his calls until he finally gave in and decided to try again in the morning.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Making A Stand (For Once)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ted and Mike make stands for what they want for the first time in their lives.

Mike knew as soon as he awoke to the sound of his phone that it would be one of his parents calling to find out where he was. He ignored the ring tone, wishing that he had turned the damn thing off the night before and it stopped in the end, probably going straight to voice mail. He sighed, turning his attention to the boy in his arms. It had been almost dawn when they had gone to sleep, the two of them talking throughout the night. Alex had told him of psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors. He had mentioned that although his father continued to lavish money on him, the man seemed unable to stand being around Alex and spent more and more time away from home, made easier by them having to move around so often. After the second such move his father had suggested boarding school, hopefully it seemed, only for a psychiatrist to tell him sternly that what Alex needed was a loving, nurturing environment, not to be made to feel as if he was being sent away. His father had taken the advice, in a way, but had removed himself instead of Alex and that as much as anything else was the reason for the distance between father and son. 

Mike would love to meet this man, sit him down and explain that nothing that had happened was Alex's fault and he had no right to withdraw his affection from a boy who desperately needed his approval and reassurance. 

The phone started ringing again and Mike frowned. Who was he kidding? He couldn't even keep his own parents in check, let alone anyone else's. 

He stole a glance at Alex, who was lying in the bed in the sweats that he had greeted Mike at the door in the night before. He seemed at peace, wiped out; the ring tone hadn't even disturbed him. Mike would probably have just let it ring if he didn't suspect that there would be a third call, and a fourth, the moment it went through to the machine again. 

Easing his way out of bed, his feet hit the floor as the phone cut off again. He got out anyway, still in his boxers although he'd lost the rest of his clothes so that they could be more comfortable as they lay in bed together, him trying for once in his life to be sensitive to the needs of another. He still felt a wash of rage whenever he considered what Alex had gone through but with a maturity that was unlike him, he recognised that anger wouldn't help Alex and he might be best to let it go, to show solidarity and understanding rather than fury. 

He fished his phone out of his pocket, wincing when he saw the time – he was late for school, ridiculously so. He wondered if the office had called his parents to tell them that or if they had realised he hadn't gone when they saw his car still there and his wallet beside the bed. It hardly mattered, the end result was the same. He started to check on his missed calls when it rang again in his hand and he grimaced when he saw his father's number. This was it. The shit was about to hit the fan and he just hoped that he blocked enough of it to protect Alex from the fallout. 

He hit the reply button. “Hi dad.”

“Where the hell are you?” the man demanded furiously. “The school says you didn't show and Maryse hasn't seen you – honestly Michael! You'd better not be with that boy--”

“That boy is called Alex. And yes, I'm with him.”

“I warned you--”

“No. I'm warning you and this time you're going to LISTEN!”

There was a stunned silence from the other end of the phone and Mike took a deep breath, trying to channel the maturity he had been determined to show when it came to this moment rather than the childish name-calling and ultimatums he really wanted to revert to. “Look. I know you're not my real dad but you've always been my dad and I respect you. I honestly do. But this thing you've got about me being with Maryse, that's not you being my dad, that's you doing what's best for business. And I don't want to be involved in it. You'll have to find some other way to do business with the Oulette's or do without their money. Either way, I'm done. I'm out of it dad and no matter what, I won't be drawn back into it. And that's the last I have to say on the subject. I won't be talking about it, and I won't be talked into it either. Not this time. This is nothing about them, this is about Alex.”

“I told you to stay away from that boy,” his father said, rather weakly – he seemed shocked that Mike had spoken back to him so forcefully. “After what he did--”

“You left half of it out, dad. You didn't tell me what circumstances led to what happened. And that you'd rather make Alex the villain than just tell me the truth, you don't wanna know how that makes me feel. Sick, that's the nicest word I have for it. I don't know if you were bluffing me last night, when you said if I didn't stay away from him then you'd make sure everyone found out about it, but I'll tell you this, from the bottom of my heart. If you stooped that low, I would lose all respect for you. I'd be out of the house at the earliest chance and I'd never come back. And while I had to live there, I'd not speak another word to you, I'd act as if you were dead. Because to me, you would be. You can threaten to cut me off but I don't care. I would rather live without your money than live with myself if I associated with you after that.”

A shaky sigh. “Mike... You don't know what you're saying. This is your life and you'd put it all at risk for some boy you barely know with a history of--”

“A history of people treating him badly,” growled Mike. “And I refuse to be another one of them. This might get out anyway but – but I think that I might be able to do something to silence that bitch. I hope so anyway. That leaves you. You butt out and leave Alex alone, or you and I are going to be estranged.”

“Your mother--”

“My mother will be devastated but I won't change my mind. I can't. This is my ultimatum, dad. I've gone along with you for years and y'know, I'll probably do it again. I really don't want to fall out with you and certainly not as badly as I'd have to. On everything else I follow your rules...” He was bending the truth a little there, but he was on a roll. “But on this, I won't. I won't stay away from Alex and if I find out you tried to sabotage him, then I'll have nothing more to do with you. And I'm eighteen in a couple of months.” 

“More like six months,” said his father automatically. 

“Whatever.” Mike lowered his voice a little. “Dad, if you've really researched this and not just taken whatever Maryse might have handed to you at face value, you'd know that Alex is the victim in this, not the villain. I don't want him to suffer because I ditched Maryse. And I know you're not cruel enough to deliberately destroy Alex's chance to settle here because you want to get ahead in business. Please. Trust me on this dad.”

There was a long silence and Mike had to bite his lip to stop himself from adding anything else that might damage his chances of getting his father onside. Just when he thought he would have to speak anyway, his father spoke. “I don't like this Michael. I don't like you threatening me like you just did and I certainly do not approve of your friendship with that boy. However, he was just a child in a stressful situation...”

Stressful thought Mike, managing somehow not to bray sarcastic laughter. That's an understatement.

“...And I certainly don't want to make life any harder than it's already been for someone who's still a child. Your age,” he added sternly. “I can't trust him, but you're right. You're nearly an adult and you're capable of making your own choices – I suppose you'll make them with or without my approval. I won't be shouting out about what Alex did to the world, if word gets out it won't be because I've said anything. You have my word on that. I might not be your natural father, but you've been my son for most of your life and you know that I love you. I worry. I worry about this boy and what he might be like psychologically – I can't imagine he'd be entirely stable after what he's been through and although I feel sorry for him, I need to protect you more than I need to take pity on him. I worry about your future and I know that a life with Maryse would at least be stable. I'd like to ensure that you have a successful life with no hardships...” He sighed deeply. “But I suppose that I can't force you into it. I want to know where you are whenever you and that boy are together. That's my condition on you being around him and if you think I can't enforce it, you're wrong. If you see any suggestions of odd behaviour, you'll talk to me about it. I'd feel more comfortable about meeting him in person. I don't like this Michael, not at all, but if you have that much strength of feeling then I'm willing to give you the chance to prove me wrong.”

“Thanks dad,” said Mike quietly. 

“I'm proud of you for standing up for your friend,” said his father gruffly. “I hope it's not misplaced loyalty.”

“Trust me dad,” Mike said. “It's not.”

“Well, you've missed school today. I assume you snuck out in the middle of the night and you both slept through?”

“Yeah,” mumbled Mike. 

“It's not the first time it's happened, I know that you spent a lot of time with Maryse. But it's going to be the last. Since you haven't got her trust fund to fall back on, you'll have to start bucking your ideas up.”

“Dad, my grades aren't bad--”

“They could be better and I expect them to be. Your attendance too. That's another condition. You earn trust Mike and I'll want to think that this boy's a good influence on you, won't I?”

Mike was caught and he knew it. “Alex is a great influence on me. You'll see how much my grades improve. You'll have no reason to worry at all.”

“I'm already worried. But you can ease that a little by at least doing a few little things to set my mind at ease. I expect you home this evening by the way. You're at Alex's now?”

“Yeah, but he's still asleep--” Mike turned to look at Alex and nearly jumped out of his skin. Alex wasn't sleeping any more. Apparently the conversation had woken him and he was sat up, looking at Mike with an unreadable expression on his face. 

“Well, I suspect you've been up all night. You'll be back at eight sharp, otherwise I'll be over there in a moment. And you don't want me dragging you out of his house, because I'll only do it once.” He paused. “I hope you're right about this one Mike. Take care.”

“I will dad.” 

Mike bid his father goodbye and ended the call, looking rather sheepishly at Alex. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you--”

“It's okay,” said Alex, talking softly and rather hoarsely. “Did you mean that? You really just told your father that you chose me no matter what?”

“Of course I did.” Mike ditched the phone and went back over to the bed, sitting at the edge and reaching for Alex's hand. “I want to be with you, I knew the whole time that you weren't to blame for anything that happened to you. And I won't let anyone harm you, no matter who they are. My dad isn't a bad guy y'know, but he went about it the wrong way and I let him know that it would ruin things between us forever. And it would, regardless. I'd always think of him as a heartless, manipulative bastard and I just had to trust what I already knew, that he's not really like that. He gets carried away sometimes but he's not like that at heart.”

“And he accepted it?”

“Did he have a choice?” Mike grinned. “He did. He's not happy, but he did. And he wants to meet you at some point--” He saw Alex's eyes fill with panic. “Hey, don't worry. He'll assume that you don't know that he knows, or something like that. Let him do his bit looking out for me and he'll be more likely to let us get on with it. There's nothing to worry about.”

Alex nodded. “But you said that Maryse knows, she was the one to find out. She stole my file, didn't she?”

“I'm sure of it,” said Mike grimly. “But she can't have done it herself. She must have had help and I'm going to find something to keep her mouth closed. She's gone too far this time and she'll regret it. This is criminal and she could be in real trouble if it comes out, so there's gonna be comeback if we can prove she's got the file.”

“If we can prove it.”

“I'll find a way,” said Mike, getting back under the covers without letting go of Alex's hand. “I swear it. She'll be quiet for a day or two to let the fallout settle and that buys us a little time. I'll prove she has that file and we'll see just how much she enjoys payback.”

Alex leaned his head against Mike's shoulder. “Thank you. No one ever did this much for me before, not for years. Forever maybe. Thank you.”

Mike kissed the top of his head. “For you? There's nothing that I wouldn't do.”

~:~

Ted was late down to breakfast, his footsteps dragging and his shoulders slumped. Cody still wasn't replying to his calls and he'd spend a mostly sleepless night with the same thoughts going through his head. 

I lost him.

I lost him because I was scared. I lost him because I was a coward, because I was afraid to stand up for myself and for him. 

I gave up Cody for Layla?

I gave up someone who loves me, who waited for me and made me feel happier than I ever have before, for Layla? A girl I actively dislike? Because I don't want to argue with my parents?  
I'm pathetic. I'm low. I'm despicable. I hurt Cody because I wasn't man enough to stand up for him. Because I wasn't strong enough to control my own life... I hurt him. I can't blame it on Layla. It was my fault.

He wanted to tell Cody that he understood, that he was sorry it had come to this, but Cody wasn't answering calls, or texts, or responding to the eighteen voice messages that Ted had left in the last twelve hours. He had the feeling he was going to be roundly ignored by the boy at school that day and why not? Ted had been the one avoiding Cody at school, pretending they weren't even friends, let alone anything more. It would be nothing out of the ordinary, except that it would be totally out of the ordinary. 

For once, his father was at the breakfast table when he arrived, his brothers just finishing. Ted wondered if his father was deliberately starting later than usual and his suspicions were confirmed when Senior looked over at him and smiled with forced joviality rather than the usual frown for his laziness. “Oversleep son?”

“Mmm.” Ted dropped into his seat, slouching as his mother asked him what he wanted for breakfast. Ted wanted nothing at all but he knew that he wasn't getting away with that; he'd end up with the lectures about the most important meal of the day and getting off to a good start. “Just toast,” he mumbled in the end, knowing there was no such thing as 'just toast'. He'd end up with marmalade and probably a side of bacon as well. He didn't even like marmalade.

The reason for his father's presence soon became clear. “Have you spoken with young Layla yet?”

Ted's eyes went to his mother, a frown decorating his face. He had told his mother that he didn't want to take Layla out and she had promised to have a word with his father, although she'd made it clear she thought it would do him no harm to just see how things went. She gave him a slightly apologetic glance and Ted sighed. Either she'd forgotten or else she'd been blindsided by Senior's constant inability to listen to that which he didn't want to hear. 

“No dad.”

His father raised his eyebrows while Ted's brothers snickered at his predicament. “Why on earth not? I thought you wanted to take her out for coffee this Friday?”

Ted ran a hand through his hair. He was tired, he was cranky and he was heartbroken. This wasn't the best time for him to be having this conversation. “No, I never wanted to take her out. You wanted me to take her out. There's a difference.”

His brothers stopped snickering, looking shocked and interested. Ted never answered back. Senior leaned back a little. “That's very harsh. I just wanted to encourage you. You need to think about these things Theodore, you need to start dealing with girls at some point and Layla's very nice, very chaste. And she likes you. I thought we agreed that she was perfect for you...”

Ted couldn't help it; he dropped his head onto the table with some force. It hurt. He didn't much care. 

“Ted, show some respect when I'm speaking to you!”

Ted raised his head, his eyes blazing, his temper frayed to breaking point. “No, we didn't agree. You decided. You decided she was right for me and I didn't get a say! I told you I don't like her, not even a little, and you just didn't listen! As usual! You just talked over me until I agreed to shut you up!”

There was a deathly silence at the table but Ted continued, angry and hurt and quite willing to take it out on anyone in his way. “I don't want to take Layla out. I don't wanna talk to her, I don't wanna see her, I don't like her. She's a manipulative cow and I don't believe that you'd nag me into seeing someone like that!”

“Theodore.” His father's voice was steely. “Control yourself, right now. There's nothing wrong with Layla--”

“Except everything.”

“You yourself admitted that you have no girlfriend at the moment and if you find that you don't like her company, you wouldn't have to date her again. It's high time you showed an interest in women because frankly Ted, I'm starting to grow concerned about you.”

“What concerns? That I'm sexless, or that I'm gay?”

His father looked shocked, but not too concerned. With a flash of understanding, Ted realised that the implication that he wondered about Ted's sexuality made his father think he would be rushing to disprove him in any way possible. 

Denying it had been what caused him to lose Cody. It had been mere hours and it hurt. It hurt to know that he might not get the chance to explain, apologise, get to hold his hand or kiss him, or even get far enough to do those things he'd been secretly hoping to indulge in once their relationship progressed. 

“I didn't lie when I told you I didn't have a girlfriend,” he said, his voice suddenly lowering. “I have a boyfriend. I'm gay. I don't like women, I like men. One man. And agreeing to this farce with Layla, trying to hide him, that's what made me lose him. I don't want anyone else, not now and not ever. I'm gay. Gay, gay, gay. As gay as a row of pink tents. So don't threaten me with that crap about wondering about me, because now you know. And I'm skipping breakfast. I have some apologies to make to the man I love.”

He hadn't intended to say it, but as the words fell from his mouth he knew they were true. He just had to hope that he wasn't too late. He glanced around the kitchen, at his family. His mother was staring at him, ignoring the toasting bread which was beginning to smoke. His brothers had identical expressions of shock. And his father looked like he was about to asphyxiate. 

Ted pushed his chair back, checked his pockets for his phone and car keys and headed off before his parents could call him back so that they could 'talk'. Whether they thought he was having a crisis and that was why he was pissed wasn't the point, the point was he couldn't afford them the time. He had someone else to see first and if he missed Cody at home, he was more than willing to announce his feelings in the middle of school. He was beyond caring. He was filled with a kind of fatalistic bravery; he had burned a good many of his bridges already and there didn't seem much point in not igniting the rest.

~::~

“You seem to be in a great mood today.”

“Don’t even start with me.”

The abruptness of Cody’s tone actually made Punk’s eyebrows arch. Well, the tone and the fact that Cody was dressed in his most dour, shapeless jeans and a hoody. This was Cody in DEPRESSION MODE--- something they hadn’t seen since the early days of their teenage years and Cody had first started lamenting over Teddy Jr. hearing him waxing poetic about the blonde had been pretty damn nauseating, though some of the music he’d begun to listen to Punk had actually found quite tasteful.

“What crawled up your ass and died?”

“Carry on and I’ll tell Bourne things that’ll make sure you never get near his ass. Ever.”

Oh yeah, there was definitely something wrong with Cody.

Before Punk could pretty much clap the other around the head and demand that he tell him why he was being such a shit head Randy came sauntering over, dressed in his customary t-shirt/jeans with his sunglasses on and his usual swagger back up to maximum level. Well, at least someone was in a good mood.

“Hey boys.”

“Hey Rand.”

Cody merely gave a non-intelligible grunt and started rummaging in his bag. When he pulled out a chocolate bar Randy actually arched a brow and lowered his glasses, watching with mild surprise as Cody bit down into the bar.

“You OK Codes?”

“Peachy,” Cody muttered around a petulant mouthful of chocolate.

When Randy looked at him Punk merely rolled his eyes and shrugged, guessing that Randy would be able to pull the other boy aside and get something out of him before too long; Cody couldn’t really keep things bottled up for long, and he and Randy had been friends longer than most people in the school, so if anyone knew Cody then it was Randy.

“Where did you get to yesterday?”

“Didn’t feel like coming in.”

“That excuse won’t fly with Guererro.”

“Guererro can suck my dick.”

“I’m sure she’d love that.”

“Ick, dude, that’s revolting.”

“Hey, you said it first, not—”

“CODY!”

The faint shout immediately gained the pair’s attention and they looked to their friend. Lost in his moping it didn’t even seem like Cody had even noticed that his name was being called. Although Punk couldn’t see anyone over the melee of boys heading inside the school building Randy could, and he looked as though he didn’t know whether to laugh or be grudgingly impressed. So caught up in puzzling what was about to happen he didn’t even notice when Evan and John appeared behind them both.

“What’s—“Evan started, only to be shushed by Randy seconds later.

Just as John was undoubtedly about to tell Randy off for shushing Evan there was another shout, louder this time.

“CODY!”

A brief look of panic interspersed with hopefulness crossed Cody’s face before he schooled it into a nonchalant expression once more and turned around, then seeming to be gearing up for one of his famous tellings-off when he truly took stock of the figure running towards him.

Ted’s hair was messy, as though he’d been running his hands through it, and his shirt was semi-tucked in and more open at the collar than anyone had ever seen him with before. In short, Ted looked as mess, but his eyes were wild with excitement and triumph, actually making him seem somewhat unstable.

Whatever temper Cody had been about to unleash seemed to vanish immediately as he stepped forward, “Teddy? What the hell happened to—”

When Ted grabbed Cody around the waist and dipped him Hollywood movie style before planting one right on his lips (and then letting it continue, to deepen, Cody’s arms even going around his neck as he did so) those boys who were walking into school all froze, Evan’s jaw dropping, John almost falling over, Randy was stunned for a moment before he whooped, and Punk stared at the scene slightly before automatically whacking Randy on the arm to shut him up. It didn’t seem to matter though since none of the sounds inspired Cody and Ted move away.

The wet sound when they separated seemed to echo around the ‘playground’ where they were assembled.

Cody looked as though someone had hit him with a heavy object, clinging to Ted for balance and barely even seeming to get his mind up to the moment. Both he and Ted were flushed, with swollen lips, and breathing hard.

“What--- what—”

“Cody, I love you.”

Cody really did fall then, right out of Ted’s arms, landing on his ass and gaping most unattractively up at the blonde.

“WHAT?”

Shockingly calm despite his frazzled state Ted merely smiled and knelt down enough to help Cody into a more upright position.

“I’m in love with you. I love you. I want to be with you.”

“You—“Cody looked as though he wanted nothing more than to believe him, but at the same time didn’t dare, “Did you get any sleep? Have you had too much coffee? You’re not making sense.”

“Cody, nothing has ever made more sense to me,” Ted continued, gripping Cody’s hands in his own; he was shaking with nervous exhilaration, “I love you. And I told my dad about us.”

“Your dad—?”

“He knows. Actually, my whole family knows. About us. So, there, um, I guess now I should make it uh, more official between us... Cody, will you be my boyfriend. Properly this time?”

This time Ted was the one to end up flat on his back as Cody all but leapt at him, kissing him at a level that younger boys in the school would probably be certified legally as too young to witness.

Silence seemed to descend upon the grounds until someone began to clap.

And then, almost instantaneously thunderous applause broke out as others joined in.

Of course, some looked away in disgust but no one was paying attention to them.

“Way to go bro!” came Zach’s voice from somewhere in the melee over the din, and Randy couldn’t help but roll his eyes slightly; trust Ryder to have to insert himself into the situation somewhere. It would probably be all over their sister school and other schools in the area by the end of the day though, given the magnitude of what had happened and who it had involved.

A love confession from the Minister’s son to another boy.

“Well, I know one person who’ll be disappointed in all of this,” Evan said lightly and John looked at him in confusion.

“Who?”

“Layla.”

“Maybe she could be bridesmaid at their wedding?” Punk interjected with a smirk.

~::~ 

“I don’t believe this,” Sr. murmured, nursing a small glass of alcohol between his hands. He was still staring at the seat Jr. had vacated after his dramatic declaration, apparently unaware that his other two sons had vacated the room out of concern for what their father might do once he’d recovered from his shock. He wasn’t a violent man by nature but after what Ted had done… well, it wouldn’t have shocked either of them if he did get mad.

“Now dear—”

He shook his head immediately, “What is wrong with him? He’s never spoken to me like that before—”

“I think we should just let Ted be with who he wants to be with,” Mrs DiBiase said in a voice that was surprisingly firm and broke no argument, surprising her husband even further since she rarely ever asserted herself against him. Not to say she was pointlessly passive, but she didn’t oft disagree with him.

“But—”

“But nothing, Theodore,” she folded her arms over her chest and arched a brow, reminding Sr. of the women he had first fallen for; strong and fiery underneath her meek and motherly mannerisms if she was pushed the right way, “If Ted is in love with another boy then we should endeavour to make sure that he’s in love with the right kind of boy…” in retrospect of course she could now understand why Cody had been so jumpy when he’d been around at the house. At least, she assumed Cody was aware of Ted’s feelings.

Sr. almost looked as though he was pouting then, draining his glass.

“Which boy—” he stopped mid-sentence and then exhaled a breath, “It’s the dark haired one isn’t it? The one that started coming over?”

Mrs DiBiase’s eyes widened a little as she put two and two together, “You don’t think that that was their first date do you?”

Sr. groaned and let his head drop down into his arms, but his wife didn’t even seem to notice, continuing on her thoughts aloud.

“A cinema? Well, it’s an alright first date I suppose but--- now we need to get to know Cody more. We need to know what his plans are for after graduation, they’re reaching that age now where their relationships can affect their future dealings… We should invite Cody for dinner,” she then levelled her husband with a look, which he sensed, because he sat up some more to prove that he was paying attention to her, “And I think you should sit Ted down and,” she blushed delicately, “Have a talk with him about certain facts.”

From the look on Sr.’s face it was apparent that the Minister couldn’t have thought of anything more horrifying.

~::~

“Is Maryse in?”

“Oh, Mike! Mon chere I ‘az been so worried about you!”

Mike’s smile felt incredibly fixed as he watched the perfectly coiffed blonde teetering down the stairs towards him; she was wearing indecently small shorts and a tank-top, something that could almost be passed-off as workout gear were it not for the ridiculously big heels that she had on her feet. Other men might have found the entire ensemble sexy, but in that moment Mike really, truly saw underneath all the paint and the glitz and saw the fake, treacherous bitch she was underneath.

“Really? Why’s that?”

For a moment Maryse looked almost nervous and Mike decided to play his hand; honestly he hadn’t thought that far ahead as to what he was going to do to get back at the French-Canadian (he’d been hoping that inspiration would strike him as he went along), and making her squirm seemed like a good start.

She gave a nervous titter and then glowered at the maid lingering nearby, sending her scuttling off before she clutched Mike’s hand between her own talons and started to drag him up towards her bedroom. Mike only permitted being moved because he was damned sure that if Maryse still had Alex’s folder then it would be in her bedroom; she was most protective of her inner-sanctum. Hell, he hadn’t been allowed into her bedroom until they had been dating six months, even though she’d been more than happy to have sex with him after a few weeks.

“Didn’t--- didn’t your father talk to you?”

“About what?” he asked nonchalantly as Maryse all but shouldered him into the room and closed the door.

“He didn’t talk to you?” now she looked both panicked and pissed, “My father promised he would talk to yours—he said that they had spoken--- that he had told you about that--- that boy you’ve been associating with--!”

Hitting a woman was something he would never do, but it did occur to him then.

Instead he merely grabbed Maryse’s wrist and dragged her in close until they were nose-to-nose, “I knew that it was you! You self-centred whore.”

“Don’t you dare speak to me like that!” she screeched, “I am going to be your wife—”

“No,” Mike overrode her, “Once upon a reality far, far away I had considered marrying you, but now you can just go to hell. And feel free to go running to daddy about it because my dad will tell you exactly the same thing. I am not going to marry you and I don’t want to be with you. And considering what you’ve done… I suggest you return the file to me before Alex goes to the police about you.”

Maryse seemed to blanch but then she merely sneered, “Zat monster? Oo’ would believe a difficult child like zat over me? Besides, you ‘ave no proof zat I took anyzing!” 

“Oh, I have the proof alright; I don’t know anyone else who would try and make someone a personal shit-tip the way you would.”

“You bastard—”

The sudden bleeping of Maryse’s phone distracted both of their attentions. The second Mike saw the panic in her eyes he knew he had found his trump card and they lunged for the baby-pink monstrosity at the same time. Maryse clawed at his arm and his face but Mike finally managed to yank the phone away and brought up a picture message. A picture message of a man he knew, but certainly not one he would have liked to know in such detail.

“Mr McMahon?” the sneer on Mike’s face made Maryse coil even as her jaw set defensively.

“So what?”

“You’re fucking my headmaster? Was that how you got the folder?”

“You do not know what you’re speaking about!”

“I know exactly what I’m talking about,” quick as a flash Mike took a photo of Maryse’s phone with his own, the blonde too startled to even do anything about it. And then she snatched the phone away from him and deleted the image. Lunging at Mike then she clawed and scratched, attempting to pull his phone away from him to get it away from him to delete it.

“You can’t prove anyzing—”

“Oh really? You think anyone’s gonna believe that McMahon alone is the only one getting something out of this arrangement? Compared to the McMahon family you have nothing.” He looked disgusted, “Cheating on me with guys our age is one thing, but wrinkly old bollocks like McMahon? That’s low—”

The wild shriek that left Maryse was cut off abruptly as her bedroom door opened.

When Heath stepped into the room he was toting a ridiculously ostentatious bouquet… though the smile on his face died down almost immediately when he noticed that Mike was standing there. And all of a sudden it made sense; how Maryse had gotten into the school, how she had gotten access to the office when everyone knew there were only a few people who had access to the office. Heath was the obvious choice: no one liked him and he’d never get a chance with a girl like Maryse on normal circumstances; his family wasn’t that rich after all by standards.

“So that’s how… Don’t even think of going anywhere Heath.”

“L-Look, Mike, it was just a folder and—“Heath’s eyes darted towards Maryse’s wardrobe and Mike crossed the room, ignoring the sudden explosion of high, rapid French that left Maryse, upending everything out of the bottom of her wardrobe to a heap on the floor.

There, buried underneath numerous shoe boxes and shopping bags was an office-standard manila folder bearing a familiar name.

Alexander Riley

~:~

Mike snatched up the folder and turned, advancing on Maryse with murder in his eyes. “Who did you share this with.” 

Maryse took a couple of steps back, for the first time ever looking genuinely frightened. “I--”

“WHO?”

“Just – just Layla and Kelly.”

“You.” Mike rounded on Heath. “Did you see anything in here?”

“No,” said Heath immediately, his hair whipping around his face as he shook his head. “I took it and handed it over. That's all.”

Mike stared at them both a moment. “Get out.”

“This ees my room--”

“Out. I'm right behind you.”

Heath didn't need telling twice and Maryse backed off quickly enough. Mike dropped the file back into the bottom of Maryse's wardrobe, took several pictures of it there and then snatched it up again. With that he walked out of the room and down the stairs, ignoring Maryse as she tottered along beside him, still talking although he was too angry to listen to the words and had no idea if they were apologies, excuses or perhaps even curses. 

When he reached the foyer again he stopped, turning around to face her. “Here's what's going to happen,” he said as calmly as he was able. “You'll never speak to me again. Ever. You'll not go running to daddy and suggest that he take out your upset by meeting up with my father so they can interfere. You'll ask him to stay out of it, I don't care how. Tell him you're not interested in me for all I care. I don't give a shit what you do, I don't give a shit about you.”

Maryse tried to talk but Mike overrode her. “And you'll not spread one word about what's in here. Not a word, or else there's gonna be some things that come into the open about you. Like that McMahon called you and he had no reason, that and the display picture on your phone wasn't one you took in normal circumstances. Like that I have proof that you had the folder, that Heath took it. Like that you've been weaving a web and that this isn't the only thing that you've done to hurt people and you know I can reveal some stuff about that – I wasn't in on all of them but I helped you more times than I like to remember. If you use any of this to hurt Alex, or to hurt me, then I'll hurt you. I can ruin you Maryse and you know that.”

“You'd be hurting yourself--”

“I don't care. I'd rather hurt myself than have you doing anything more and getting away with it. I'll be watching and I'll make damned sure that all the shit sticks to you. I can do it and I will. Don't try me. Call it a loss and leave it be, because you're onto a loser with this one and keeping going will hurt only you.”

“You bastard,” said Maryse flatly. “You dare to threaten me?”

“It's a promise,” said Mike, staring a hole through her. “You dare try me and I'll make sure that I do every single thing I can to ruin the rest of your life. And I know enough to ensure you get kicked out of school and your daddy finds out what a nasty whore his princess is.”

“Get out,” snarled Maryse.

“I hope to never come back,” said Mike. “But don't forget. I'll do it and you never, ever want to forget that. You never want to forget and think you can get away with anything, don't start thinking of your ego instead of your future. That would be a mistake I won't let you get away with.” He turned to Heath. “And you, keep your mouth shut. I'm sure Maryse will back me up when I say you never want to repeat a thing you heard in here.”

He left, the folder under his arm. As he slid into his car he had a horrible moment when he wondered if Maryse had copied it – but if she had, there was nothing he could do. He would have to hope that she would take his warning seriously and did nothing more. He flipped through the folder, seeing a lot more of the usual files, but he couldn't tell if they'd been copied. Still, he knew Maryse. She was arrogant and it probably wouldn't occur to her that anything would happen to the primary file. She didn't even back up her files on the computer, so maybe he'd get lucky. 

Alex at least deserved a little luck.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Worse Than Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gossip's spreading like wildfire, and Alex finally comes clean to the rest of his friends.

Evan insisted that he stop by Alex's place on the way home, since the boy hadn't been at school that day. Punk pointed out that Mike had also been conspicuous by his absence and they shouldn't worry, but he went along with his boyfriend willingly enough. When Evan knocked at the door he had thought that no one would answer, since there was a long time when they heard nothing at all from within the house. But after a long pause, Alex opened the door and smiled when he saw Evan, although he gave Punk a rather quizzical look. “Hi,” he said amicably enough. “Come in for a few minutes.”

“You weren't at school,” said Evan as he followed Alex into the house, Punk right behind him – he had never been inside Alex's house before and he was a little curious. He got the feeling that Alex was there alone a lot, although he never really spoke of his father. “I thought I'd look in and make sure you were doing okay.”

“Mike here?” asked Punk casually. 

Alex looked mildly annoyed. “No, he left already. It wasn't too obvious was it, that we were both off at the same time?”

“Only to the people that know you.”

Evan elbowed Punk to shut him up. “Is everything okay? I mean, you weren't ill were you? You've been looking a little off the last couple days and we thought you might have come down with something and Mike was looking after you.”

“No, I'm fine. Well, y'know. I'm not sick. Something happened but... well, I don't wanna go into it right now. I need to find out how it finished but then I promise, I'll let you know all about it.” He shrugged. “Although I'm not looking forward to that part.”

“Odds on it's something to do with Mike dumping Maryse,” said Punk and smirked when he saw how startled Alex looked. “What? You think that he hasn't been telling us anything? Actually, he's been pretty quiet on what's been happening the last few days, but he dated her forever and we know what she's like and what she's capable of. We warned him she wouldn't let him go without a fight. And that he'd probably have his dad on his back.”

Alex nodded slowly. “I keep forgetting that you know more of the history they have then I do. Mike thinks he can stop her causing trouble but I don't know. I hope he can.” 

“She's not violent, if that's what you're concerned about. Just manipulative.” Punk grinned. “I have no idea what Mike's been up to, but I get the feeling I'm gonna be having a long conversation with him soon.”

Alex didn't look comfortable with the idea but tried a smile. “So, please tell me you didn't bring me my homework to keep me occupied.”

“We come bearing gossip,” said Evan with a smirk and proceeded to give the story of what had happened with Ted and Cody at school that day. Alex's eyes grew wide as he heard all about it and he actually laughed when Evan told him about the cheers. 

“I've never been to a school where two boys kissing in public would be reason to celebrate,” he said. 

“Yeah, well Randy and John were the first two guys to come out and no one messes with either of them – hell, you probably already know that Randy'll throw down with anyone he even suspects of bad-mouthing John. So then it made it more acceptable for anyone else to announce they were gay and yeah, there's still the haters but for the most part people think it's just the same as anyone with a girlfriend. Any anyway, they think it's gonna piss the teachers off.”

“So what happened after all that?”

“They went off to class, what else?”

“Ted grinning like a fool the whole time,” added Punk. “I have maths with him. I don't think he heard a word.” 

“But I don't think you'll be hearing much from him over the next few days,” said Evan with a slight frown. “His parents are going to be... I don't know. I think they try to be accepting but they're traditionalists and I think he's in for an uncomfortable few days. I could be wrong, but I've met them.” He grinned suddenly. “I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the girls school tomorrow.”

Alex smirked. “Are you gonna spin some line about being able to fly into the dressing room?”

“No! I got everything I need to see in his underwear right here.” 

“That can be arranged,” said Punk with a smirk that had Evan blushing and Alex snickering. 

“I mean, there's gonna be some real tantrums on the cards tomorrow.”

“You're not wrong.” Alex thought it over. “Look, it might be for the best if I got us all together at some point, but I'd rather not put anything else onto Ted's plate right now. Maybe we can hang out as a group in a couple days or something.”

“Sounds good,” said Evan casually.

“And I really need to catch up with what's happening with Codes and Mike.” Punk raised his hands. “What? It's not gossip if you're finding out about your friends!”

“I know,” said Alex, but there was a rather troubled look in his eye, as if he was trying to figure something out. After a moment he smiled and offered them drinks and both took the offer gratefully. Punk thought he was an odd kid and after what he'd overheard about the file, he wasn't sure it was wise to let his guard down for long. But he seemed a good enough friend for Evan and when it came to his own friend, he just hoped that this boy was good enough for Mike... no matter which way he thought of it, he was still better than Maryse.

~:~

The news spread through the girls like a forest fire. Maryse had struck out with Mike. Things had ended between them, there was no more relationship and the golden couple were a couple no more. 

The news was spread by Layla. She'd had some rather unpleasant news of her own, a girl who knew she had designs on Ted calling to tell her with barely-hidden malicious glee that Ted had burst into the boys school in disarray, proclaimed his love for Cody Rhodes and kissed him in front of everyone, to much applause. Like something from a romantic film, just the kind of thing that Layla had always dreamed of. She'd refused to believe for exactly seven minutes, when someone had kindly passed on the photographic evidence – they boys were just as quick to spread around something rather scandalous as the girls were and there were a few pictures doing the rounds to prove that the story had happened. She had gaped at her phone for long minutes and then, just to add insult to injury, Zack Ryder had texted her to say he was very sorry she'd been hurt that way and did she need a shoulder to cry on? The implication and the fact that even Zack knew that she'd been after Ted and he had gotten away from her, made her furious. 

She walked out of the house, hoping to avoid any callers, ignoring her phone as she ran to Maryse's house – this was all her fault. She was the one who had all but promised that if she went to Ted's parents then the boy would fall into her arms and instead it seemed to have pushed him right to Cody! She intended to give the bitch a piece of her mind. She'd done her part when it came to Mike and what did she have to show for it? Public humiliation!

Except when she got to Maryse's, there was no question of facing her. Maryse's bedroom window was broken, Layla saw that right away and headed in the direction, wondering what had happened. The answer quickly became clear when there was another crack of glass and more rained down onto the ground below, followed by some kind of very breakable ornament and a string of French curses. Layla understood enough to know that Maryse was angry, even if it wasn't given away by her actions. A smirk came to her face and she listened a little more, languages having always been a gift of hers. Apparently Mike was an asshole bastard who had no right to leave his girlfriend. And there was something else, something about a folder. Layla knew what that was about but she didn't intend to tell. It seemed Mike had called Maryse's bluff and come out on top, for the moment at least. And Maryse wasn't at all used to losing. 

Layla left – she may have been mad but she wasn't suicidal and facing Maryse in this mood would probably lead to a real catfight with both of them losing chunks of hair. It wasn't that Layla was scared of such a thing, she simply had a better idea, a more subtle and devastating form of revenge. And she had it when she alerted a few of the girls who called Maryse a frenemy to the plight of the girl. They arrived pretty quickly, witnessing the breakdown with wide eyes although none of them had laid eyes on the girl in question there was enough to fuel enough gossip and rumour to last a lifetime. 

Before the evening was out, everyone in both schools knew that Mike had ditched Maryse and she wasn't taking it well. The news overshadowed what had happened with Ted and Cody among the girls and that made Layla a little happier. At least she wasn't the centre of gossip and maybe if everyone was talking about Maryse for a while, they would forget her own humiliation. 

The boys were about half and half over what was the bigger news. But Ted and Cody as a couple, and a very obvious couple, was only good for a little talk and speculation. Some of the boys, the ones who had admired Maryse from a distance and knew they had no hope of ever getting near a girl who looked like her, thought that Mike was insane. 

The rest had met her and thought that Mike had finally come to his senses, calling it a lucky escape.

~::~

“Not gonna lie,” Randy said absently as he walked with John back towards the brunette’s house, “I didn’t see that coming.”

“It was like something out of a movie wasn’t it?”

“That’s probably what Ted was goin’ for… He had to know Cody’d like that kinda thing.”

“Mhm,” John made a sound of agreement but didn’t seem to be wholly concentrating on what he said which drew Randy’s attention immediately and he cocked his head before quirking a slight smile, “Am I boring you?”

“Huh?” John then blushed, “No, sorry, I was just thinking…”

“Dangerous for someone with a face as pretty as yours,” Randy ducked as John swung his bag out at him in retaliation for the comment, adding, “Really, what were you thinking about?”

“Just how everyone’s gonna blame us for this.”

“Wha’?” this time Randy looked puzzled and John chuckled, pausing outside of his front door. The house was dark inside and deceptively quiet so he had to suppose that his family were out doing… Whatever it was that they would be doing. He couldn’t call everyone’s schedules to the forefront of his mind at that moment in time.

“I mean, we were the first really out couple, right?” John commented, pulling his key from his pocket, “So since then anyone that’s been gay has apparently somehow been influenced by us. And since the couple involved are best friends with us respectively we’re definitely going to get blamed for it.”

“Do you care?”

“Honestly? No. What does it matter what gender the person is you fall in love with?”  
“Spoken like a true romantic.”

John flushed, “Shut the fuck up.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a romantic now and then,” Randy mused, “I mean, I didn’t think the whole rose-petals on the bed thing would work too well since we’re both guys, buy you seemed to appreciate the gesture enough.”

John scowled, shifting from foot to foot, radiating embarrassment and reluctant acceptance, “Yeah, well… I wasn’t expecting that you’d put so much effort in for our first Valentine’s together. Besides: you know I could never resist you smothered in chocolate.”

A surprise look flittered across Randy’s face then before he chuckled; apparently John had caught him off-guard for once instead of it being exclusively the other way around. “Yeah, well… I knew you’d make it worth my while if I was a good boyfriend so… It wasn’t exactly a hardship.” And it had made for a pretty memorable night.

“Champagne still tastes like shit.”

“Tell me about it! Gimme a bottle of JD anytime.”

They shared a companionable laugh and then Randy sighed, hopping down from the front porch and shrugging slightly as he shoved his hands into his pockets, “I guess I’ll be seeing you in school then?” he should be thinking of getting home and getting something to eat. His brother and sister were staying at friends’ houses that evening and his parents were having people over for an impromptu diner party so Randy was likely going to be spending the evening nursing leftovers in his room and reluctantly facing his Geography homework as an attempt to combat his own thoughts and boredom.

He got barely five steps back down the path before he heard John calling his name and he turned to look back over his shoulder at him in curiosity.

“Do you,” John was flushing and doing that little lip biting thing that had never failed to make Randy’s mind go unnervingly blank whenever he did it, “Want to come in?”

“Don’t you have homework?”

“When did that ever stop you?”

“Well, yeah, OK,” Randy rubbed a hand on the back of his neck sheepishly, “But I mean, it’s nearly dinner time and I haven’t eaten yet.”

“Mum left me some money to get a pizza in.”

Randy looked up, unsure exactly what he was about to say--- and then he recognised the look in John’s blue eyes and his heart leapt in his chest. He couldn’t remember the last time John had looked at him like that, and for a moment he wondered whether he had slipped into some kind of alternate reality.

“John… Are you sure?” he swallowed thickly, licking his dry lips as John pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“Honestly?” John shrugged, “I don’t know,” he then dropped his school bag to the side and toed his shoes off before pulling his jumper over his head, revealing his sculpted torso barely contained within a white vest that had Randy fairly salivating, “But maybe you can remind me as to why us getting back together would be a good thing?”

~::~

“I can’t do this.”

“You can do this,” Mike murmured, giving Alex’s hand a squeeze of reassurance as they glanced out of Alex’s kitchen to the living-room where their friends were seated. It had been five days since Cody and Ted had had their dramatic declarations for one another, and since Mike had ‘anonymously’ returned Alex’s folder. Maryse hadn’t had one piece of contact with him since, and Alex had had to pretend that he had no idea who could have had his file or where it could have come from… it had been so damned tempting to tell on the silly French bitch but Mike had requested, told him he’d sorted it, and he trusted him.

Punk and Evan were sitting on the floor, Punk using Evan’s stomach as a pillow as Evan leant against the wall on a large cushion, Ted and Cody pretty much entwined together on the two-seater. The ironic part, most of their friends wanly reflected, was that they didn’t know which was worse: when they had been moping when they weren’t together, or how they were now they were together. Although Ted still wasn’t overly demonstrative that didn’t mean he and Cody hadn’t been caught out now and again making-out on school grounds. Most surprisingly of all though was the fact that Randy was lounging atop John’s lap, the pair having announced that they were going to give being together another go, but they weren’t going to just rush into things.

Considering how red and slightly smug John had gotten, and how smug Randy had been, it made the others wonder just what exactly they weren’t supposed to be rushing into.

It had been Mike’s idea to get everyone together and tell them what had happened, about Alex’s past (only to a minor degree if he didn’t want to) and although Alex knew that it was best that they hear it from him instead of from some other source that didn’t mean he wasn’t scared shitless about it. The news had never been greeted with anything more than over the top sympathy or fear and disgust before (Mike had been the first one to act outside of the expected patterns) and so he was trying to prepare himself for losing the people closest to him (bar Mike) in his life.

“I can’t.”

“Baby,” Mike cupped Alex’s cheeks and kissed him fleetingly, “I’ll be with you all the way. And if anyone says anything—“something which Mike sincerely doubted with all of his heart, “Then I’m gonna be kicking some serious ass and most likely owing you most of my future inheritance to pay for your furniture.”

Alex chuckled softly and then swallowed, squeezing Mike’s waist.

“OK… Let’s do this before I change my mind.”

He grabbed the large share-bags of crisps he had brought for the occasion, Mike following with packs of cans of pop and dips, and then they both dropped down onto the large double beanbag that usually sat in Alex’s room but had been brought down to make the atmosphere more comfortable than having everyone cramming themselves onto the spotless furniture.

“Thanks for coming guys.”

“You sounded kinda serious on the phone, is everything OK?” this from Cody, who had managed to tear himself away from looking at Ted for five seconds at least, though he did glance back before the other had even responded.

“Yeah… No… Kinda,” Alex sighed and vented minutely on ripping the bags of crisps open. They were placed in bowls they had already brought through and placed on the coffee-table, dips being opened and set out beside them. Immediately everyone reached out for them, murmuring thanks and then taking a can of drink for themselves.

“What’s up?”

Clearing his throat slightly Alex sighed, “I guess… some of you,” he didn’t see why Mike’s friends would have especially paid attention to him, “Noticed that I’ve been a little off the past few days,” when everyone in the room nodded he almost spilled a little Dr Pepper on himself, but then recovered swiftly and cleared his throat, “Well, there was a reason for that.”

“Does this have anything to do with your file going missing?” Punk asked lightly.

Alex’s eyes widened and then his head snapped around to Mike so hard his neck cracked, causing Ted to wince and Randy to hiss between his teeth, “You said you didn’t tell anyone.”

“I didn’t!” Mike responded immediately as he held his hands up in surrender, “Punk was the one who told me your folder had gone missing?”

Alex blanched and Punk realised that he had been right in thinking that there had to be more to Alex’s file then there was at initial thought, “I didn’t have anything to do with it going missing,” he said flatly before anyone could think of accusing him; he might be a mouth-piece but he wasn’t a bastard, and he sure as hell wouldn’t do anything to put into turmoil what he and Evan had, “But I heard you talking to Stephanie and Old Man McMahon.”

“Maybe we should start calling him Wrinkly Old Balls McMahon.”

“Mike, what the fuck?” Cody demanded, wrinkling his nose with his face a picture of disgust. Mike merely snickered and shook his head, telling him he’d tell them all after.

“Oh,” Alex seemed to deflate (apparently not in the least bit phased by the off-topic cut-off that had happened a few seconds before) and scrubbed his hands over his face, “Sorry,” he directed at Punk who waved a hand to accept and dispel the apology all in one.

“Alex… Why would your folder going missing be such a big deal?”

Alex swallowed thickly, “There’s something about me that you need to know.”

Cody looked Alex up and down, eyebrows arching, “You’re not really a woman are you?”

John started choking on his drink, Randy thumping him on the back as the boys descended into startled laughter, the tension being dispelled just the littlest bit by the comment.

“No, no!” Alex chuckled, “Nothing like that…”

He sobered slightly though as he started to tell his tale once more.

~::~

“Maryse had stolen it?” Ted gaped afterwards, the first to recover from their shocked silence.

Alex’s legs were shaking lightly and his hand was gripping Mike’s so tightly that his knuckles were white but Mike didn’t offer a word of protest, merely placed his other hand atop Alex’s and pretended that he didn’t notice his shaking. Punk recognised that as a sign of shellshock, to a mild degree, and wondered how often Alex had told this tale to someone else. Trust Ted to focus on the idea of someone they knew betraying the situation as opposed to Alex’s past… but then again, that was probably kindest to Alex: chances were he didn’t want them lingering on that part.

His panic that night in school sure as hell made sense now though.

“Yeah,” Mike then glanced significantly at him and then at John, “And she shared what she knew with Kelly and Layla.”

Cody tensed at the mention of his not-quite rival’s name, and Randy made a low sound of disgust in his throat as John squirmed a little uncomfortably.

“They were in on it?” he asked, not wanting to linger on the topic of the girls too much but knowing that there answers they still needed over it.

“I don’t doubt they were on some level. Maryse never does anything for free, and I know for a fact that the three of them could hardly be considered friends. Chances were they had all entered into an agreement together, to advance one another with what they wanted.”

“To get you back,” Evan said, indicating Mike and ticking a finger off for Maryse, “And to get Ted,” he ticked off a second finger, “And to have John.”

“Most likely. I don’t see what else they could want.”

Indeed, Kelly had caught him in the shop the other day and John had proceeded to decline her ‘innocent’ invitation to have that dinner they had called a rain-check on last time, and John had told her honestly that he was no longer single and therefore she probably shouldn’t make attempts to try things like this with him anymore. “I’m dating the jealous type,” he had said, and when the startled (and undoubtedly pissed-off) blonde had demanded who he was seeing, what her name was, John had felt no small measure deep in his chest as he responded, “Randy Orton.” The look on her face had been priceless, and even her snide comments about opening himself up for hurt and being portrayed a fool for a second time hadn’t bothered him.

“Did you tell the police? Your dad?” Evan asked and Mike shook his head.

“Why not?” Punk looked puzzled.

“Because what I know about her,” he said smugly, “Will make sure she doesn’t breathe a word of this for the rest of our natural lives if she knows what’s good for her.”

~::~

Randy raised an eyebrow. “That doesn't surprise me even slightly. That girl always has something going on, if you pulled the rug from under her, the whole house of cards would come crashing down.”

John smirked a little at the mixed metaphor before growing serious again. “How can we be sure that Layla and Kelly won't say anything though? They must realise that there's something stopping Maryse from saying anything and it might be a way to get back at her rather than Alex.”

Alex looked rather ill at the thought and Ted leaned forward a little, trying not to dislodge Cody. “Why would they do that? There's no reason for them to do that. They're not nasty, just a little shallow and thoughtless. I don't see Layla coming up with stealing the file without Maryse and I don't know Kelly that well but she doesn't seem that wicked either. They'll probably just keep it to themselves.”

“How can we be sure?” asked Cody thoughtfully. “What do we have on them that they'd rather no one else knew about?”

“Now you're starting to sound like them.” Punk looked around, smirking a little as he saw the deep thought on the faces of the group. “Hasn't it occurred to you that if the information comes from them, it shows that they were involved in the theft and they'd be in real trouble for it? Maryse's part might not even come out, but theirs would. All we have to do is remind them of the fact and problem solved.”

Evan gave him a rather admiring glance. “It's a bit less hysterical than trying to get some dirt on them. Maybe you should be the one to remind them about it thought.”

“Why me?”

“Because you're the one with inventive ways of telling them what we're all thinking about them.”

“I knew you only liked me for my mouth.”

The rest of the group laughed uproariously, including Alex who was looking increasingly relieved. He had expected more questions about what he had gone through, it seemed like everyone who found out wanted to know all the gory details, every blood splash, every terrifying moment. But so far no one had asked him to go into more detail than he already had. He had left out the part about the abuse, just saying that it had been bad, he didn't want to share that much with everyone. But even so, it had gone down better than it ever had with anyone else who had found out and there was a chance they would go home and look up the details themselves. But even if they did, he was starting to believe that they might choose not to mention it and for that he was grateful. He had shrinks if he wanted to discuss it, and now he could talk to Mike. But he would prefer it if he didn't have probing questions, or apologetic looks whenever the topic went to anything even remotely related. 

“Speaking of your mouth...” Mike gave Punk a threatening look. “If you repeat what I'm about to tell you to anyone, I'll have your balls removed and shoved right up your ass.”

“Sounds kinky. What is it?”

“Maryse got a call while I was over there. From our beloved headmaster. And the picture that came up on her phone...” He shuddered. “Let's just say that I've seen a lot more of him than I ever wanted to.”

There was a moments silence and then a cry of disgust from everyone. It was exactly the reaction that Mike had anticipated and he thought that it would diffuse the seriousness of what they had gathered to discuss quite well. Looked like he had been right.

“That's – horrible,” said Evan. “He must be like, a hundred years old!”

“He's at least sixty-five,” said Punk. “I got called into the office a while back and there was a card on his desk. And that must have been more than a year, so yeah. Seriously gross.”

“You know what that means though,” said Randy. “It means that Michael here's been having second-hand sex with the teacher.”

Mike looked horrified. “That's not how it is! Anyway, I haven't had full sex with Maryse in – well, ages. She must have started up with McMahon after.”

“How do you know?”

“I know. Trust me, my sanity knows. In any case, I think it might have been part of some back-up plan. The mad bitch was pretty determined to find a way to get at me.”

Alex bit his lip anxiously. “Do you think she could influence him into revealing me?”

“Nope,” said Mike immediately. “Think about it. Sharing your file is just as serious, if not more so, than having an affair with Maryse. Maryse probably won't try pressuring him because she knows that I know about them and I'll carry out my threat if he does anything. And he won't do it on his own. So I don't think we have to worry too much about him.”

Alex looked relieved. “That makes sense.”

Ted made a disgusted sound. “Damn, part of me wishes I could tell my dad about this, just so I could emphasise what kind of girl Layla really is. He seems to think that she's an innocent party who needs to be treated gently. Not some brat that needs to get her come-uppance.”

“Really?” Evan looked over, amused. “Incidentally, you never did tell me what he said once you'd come out. To the whole family over the breakfast table, that's what you said, right?”

Ted blushed a little. “Yeah, that wasn't as well thought out as it could have been. And it was – bad.”

John frowned. “You and Cody are still together and you've not been shipped off to military school. I thought he'd accepted it.”

“He did.” Ted started blushing even harder, if such a thing was even possible. “Only uh, he really accepted it. He gave me the whole speech about whatever makes me happy, blah blah, y'know the kinda thing. And then he asked me to bring Cody 'round to meet the family. And then...” He shrugged. “He talked to me about protection.”

Punk burst out laughing. “No way! You're probably lucky that he didn't give you practical advice.”

“The advice he did give was bad enough. He got it off of Wikipedia.”

John grinned at Cody. “So, how was dinner?”

Cody smiled a little. “Not so bad. I was a little worried after what Ted said, that I'd start getting sex tips over dessert. But mostly it was questions about my schooling and future. I think he wanted to be convinced that Teddy wasn't being led astray.”

“You must have lied pretty well then,” said Randy quickly, getting flipped off. 

~:~

Alex hadn't dared to hope that the evening would go well; in spite of Mike's assurances he had assumed that no one would want to talk to him again after admitting he had killed someone. However, aside from Punk telling him he'd done just the right thing and should have kicked the corpse in the balls for good measure, there hadn't been much of a bad reaction. They had been shocked, true, but more by the situation he'd found himself in rather than the way he'd gotten himself out of it. 

Only John had touched on one of the most troubling aspects and then only barely. “Your dad still leaves you alone in the house, even after all this?”

“Yeah, but I'm older now,” Alex pointed out. “I can take care of myself and honestly, it's not like I'm going to be here forever. It's better that I'm not scared to be alone. And we have the best alarm systems that money can buy.”

John looked troubled, as did everyone else, but he didn't comment. Alex knew what he was thinking though, that after all that he was amazed that any parent would leave him alone ever again. He didn't know that Alex would rather his father was anywhere but in a room with him, even if he probably suspected it. 

It was only when he got back from a quick bathroom break that he found everyone had been talking about him behind his back – although not in a bad way, he quickly found. He expected, when all eyes turned to him and the talk went quiet, that they had been talking about what had happened to him. In a fashion, they had, but he wasn't expecting what was actually said. 

“We were just talking,” said Randy casually. “Turns out that none of us can be bothered walking home and thinking of you rattling around the house on your own after having gone through all this bullshit bothers us.”

“Didn't you drive?”

“Yeah, but I'm very lazy. Can't be bothered to walk to the car either.”

Alex hid a laugh, but Randy noticed. “Since Mike's not exactly in the 'rents good books from what you said before, I'm gonna assume he hasn't been staying over the last few days. But I'd bet they'd be more lenient if there was a group of us. And hey, so would Ted's parents, so you're doing him a favour. You've got a couple spare blankets, right?”

“I could probably spare a few rooms,” said Alex. “But honestly, you don't have to stay over. I've been doing fine without my dad here most nights for a long time--”

“Doesn't matter,” said Ted promptly. “We've never liked the idea and now we like it even less. And we're your friends, we just wanna be here to keep our own minds at ease as well.”

“Well, okay,” said Alex, feeling a little weird about how much the thought of people worrying about him made him happy. His dad couldn't wait to get away from him, or so it seemed. Just after the kidnapping he had been home a little more but clearly anxious to leave and Alex hadn't understood; shouldn't his father be more scared for him, too unnerved to let him out of his sight? That his friends clearly felt that way reinforced what he had thought back then, but that they didn't want to leave him now meant that they genuinely were worried about his welfare. That was a good feeling. 

And in any case, if there was going to be a mass sleepover, it was far more likely that Mike would be given permission to stay. He was pretty sure that Mike's dad would do some checking up to ensure that there really were a few other people there but that was fine by him. He intended that they would sleep in his bed and the house was big enough to have extra rooms. No all of them had beds, but at least they were private and he could offer blankets and airbeds.

Randy whooped. “You keep any beers in the house?”

“Sure,” replied Alex, who didn't actually tend to delve into his fathers stash but knew that his dad probably wouldn't say shit about it. 

“Randy,” said John sternly. “Before we start getting plans to make you talkative and incontinent, let's make sure our parents know where we are. The last thing we need is for the Mizanin's or the DiBiase's busting in here.”

“Hey, I do not get incontinent--"

“Uh, could you tone down the talk about your bathroom habits?” asked Ted, looking up from his phone. “And if you talk, try to sound virginal. My dad's gonna know Cody's here and I've got to persuade him that uh, y'know. It's not just an excuse so we can have a night alone together.”

Punk rolled his eyes. “Ted, this is how you do it.” He picked up his own phone and dialled out. “Hi mom. Y'know how I've been real good this last couple weeks? Am I okay to stay with my friend Alex?   
There's a few of us here. Yeah, Ev's here as well. Yeesh, you know I don't drink mom... Kay, thanks! Love you!” He finished the call and winked. “Less than a minute. And she's pretty sure that Evan and me are--” 

Evan caught his eyes and cleared his throat. Punk gave an innocent smile. “She thinks that we are more than friends.”

“Yeah, well if my dad thinks that there's even a chance that we'll get beyond the kissing stage, he'll be over here to take me home. And probably to deal out condoms to the rest of you.” He grinned a little. “Which makes me wonder why he gave me the talk about protection in the first place.”

“He thinks you should wait 'til you're married or something?” asked Randy, sounding amused. When Ted nodded Randy looked confused, he hadn't expected that. “Wow. Well, if you do plan on being married first, then Cody'll have you down the aisle in the next week or so...”

“Randy,” said John warningly and Randy shut up, a little perturbed at the thought of waiting until marriage for sex. How would one ever know if they were compatible in bed if they never tried it out? And then if it sucked, they were stuck until the divorce papers were signed.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Awkward First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and the boys meet Mr Riley... It's an encounter none of them will forget in a hurry.

“See if I invite you to my wedding,” Cody sniffed mockingly.

“I’d expect to be best man you ass.”

“You wish. Mike, Punk, want to be my best men?”

“Would I have to wear a suit?”

“Obviously.”

“No thanks man, Mike can do it.”

“Dick,” Cody chuckled as he threw a couch cushion at Punk who caught it and then threw it back.

“Seriously,” Punk addressed Ted, “Just spin the tale a little. Though perhaps it might be best to omit that Alex’s dad isn’t here if she asks.” Not that most people would probably have noticed that Alex was on his own more often than not. They had had parental review a few weeks back and Alex’s father had been conspicuously absent; most parents would undoubtedly be dying to know how their child was settling in to a new school even if they hadn’t been there long, so the fact he hadn’t been there was a bit weird.

“But if they found out I’ve been lying…” Ted started concernedly.

“It’s not lying if you don’t mention it when asked.”

“If she asks just say he should be due back,” Alex shrugged, “It’s not entirely untrue,” he didn’t voice that it was also highly unlikely but the others in the room could hear the unspoken, bitter accusation without him voicing it.

“Alright…” Ted dialled his home number, his mother picking up after a few rings, “Hey, mom, are you busy?” when she responded that she was only waiting for some cookies to finish baking he couldn’t help but say, “Cookies?” what? His mother made awesome cookies. Shaking himself he forced his mind back to the current topic at hand, “I was just wondering can I stay at Alex’s tonight?” he flushed, “Yeah, Cody will be here but so will Evan, John and Randy and his friends Mike and Phil.”

Punk made a quiet sound of distress; he didn’t tolerate people his own age calling him by name, only his parents and teachers got away with it… and half of them just addressed him as ‘Punk’ anyway.

“Will we be in the same room? Uh--- I think we’re all just gonna be camping in the living-room,” Randy mockingly silent-whistled at the little fib and John whacked him on the back of his head lightly, Ted sticking his tongue out at the pair automatically before returning his attention to the phone, “Alex’s dad? Yes, he’s fine with us being here… As long as we keep it down, he’s just got back from working away,” he span, Alex nodding his head in encouragement. That was good; show consideration and assure the parent it wasn’t going to be raucous party. “It’s OK?” Ted brightened and then nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be home to get some stuff… OK, yeah, OK… MOM! No, I understand,” he groaned, embarrassed, “I’ll see you soon.”

“She asked you to play safe didn’t she?” John asked with sympathy, “I remember mom doing that to me…” and she had done it again upon finding out he and Randy were going to try and work things out again. Of course John had just about died… but the throbbing in his ass had called him out on lying that they hadn’t done anything like that yet.

“But you’re OK to stay?” Cody asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” Ted nodded and then chuckled a little shyly, “She said she’s got some cookies we can have that I can bring back when I go get some things.”

“Cookies…” Mike sighed wistfully, as did Cody.

“You two aren’t dieting again are you?” Randy asked dryly.

“When are they never?” Punk returned.

“Fuck you!” Mike and Cody spoke in tandem though without much heat; they were used to everyone taking the mickey when it came to their eating habits. 

Soon, everyone else was placing calls into their parents, and indeed they didn’t offer much protest. Even Mike’s father relented about him staying there so many nights in a row because of the assurance that there were going to be a few of them there. Although he had been making conscious effort to give Alex the benefit of the doubt Mike didn’t doubt that there was still a part of the man that held some concern for Mike’s safety even though Mike himself knew that he was in no danger with Alex there. With anything he was safer.

Alex wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

“So that’s everyone accounted for then?” Evan said brightly, Punk’s arms now around his middle as he had taken to sitting up since the phone-call.

“What are you guys gonna do about overnight stuff?” Cody asked and then looked almost contritely at Alex, “Sorry, but I just can’t do without having my overnight things with me.” He needed fresh clothing, and his toothbrush and---

“His face masks, beauty products—”

“That weird fruity smelling stuff he uses on his lips—”

“Seriously, how do you smell anything with that on your face?”

The blushing ravenette scowled at his three friends, “Remind me how I got to be friends with you assholes?”

When Ted kissed his cheek though Cody relented, something that amused those who knew how theatrical his temper could get, especially when his beauty regime was brought under fire. It seemed as though Ted had really tamed the little minx, and in no time at all.

“It’s cool you guys, I’m pretty sure I can survive ten minutes without you here,” Alex smiled at them, his unspoken thanks for their concern in the action, before he then turned to Randy, “Except you do know this means you’ve gotta leave?”

“Nah,” Randy said jokingly as he climbed off of John’s lap to allow the other to stand, “I can just have John go and get me some stuff.”

John snorted, arching a brow, lips quirking into a slight smirk.

“What did your last slave die of?”

Randy waggled his brows, “Exhaustion.”

Rolling his eyes John grabbed Randy’s collar and bid Alex a temporary goodbye as he dragged Randy out after him.

~::~

“So what’re we eating then?”

Some hours later when the snacks had been finished, beers had been brought out (and more pop, most likely for Punk though everyone else would delve in too) and they had played several rounds on the games console that Alex kept in the living room, Evan was the one who made a comment about food.

Cody pouted, “It’s not fair that you’re so small and svelte; I’ve seen you eat, Bourne, by rights you should be fat.”

Evan looked startled a moment and then blushed, “Uh, sorry?” he asked, hand hovering over the bag of cookies that Ted had brought with him. Most were gone (and many praises had been sung about the blonde’s mother’s baking) but there were a few left even though each had seemed to have had loads.

“Cody, be nice,” Punk chided, “It’s not his fault you’re terrified of becoming bigger thanks to genetics.” And he was in no way making fun of Dusty (A.K.A Virgil); he had lots of respect for the man, especially the way his children and wife seemed to be the centre of his world. Dusty had come from humble roots and made money quite by chance, but even though he had come into money he hadn’t changed at all; he was a common man through and through. It was no secret to any of his friends though that he was concerned about becoming hefty as he got older.

“I wouldn’t think you any less perfect if you put on 500 pounds,” Ted said soothingly.

Cody preened and the rest of the group rolled their eyes.

“I’m in the mood for pizza,” John admitted.

“Chinese!” Mike inputted, getting a second from Randy.

Alex shrugged, “We could always get both?” they could easily afford it and why shouldn’t they mix things up a little bit?

“Really?” Evan asked concernedly, “I mean, I’ve got enough money to go in for it, but--”

“You don’t have to pay anything.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Randy said, not unkindly, “We volunteered ourselves to stay over so we can all pay in for it. Besides, we can just split the overall price and do it that way.”

Realising he wasn’t going to win this one Alex bowed down gracefully.

~::~

They spent the night playing games and watching films, eating their fill of the food when it had arrived, and then falling into more gameplay and telly watching until Evan and Ted finally voiced that it was getting late and they did still have school tomorrow… they were still blushing when they headed up behind Alex to be allocated rooms thanks to the comments that had been given about what goody-two-shoes they were. Still, they all knew that they had best make an effort since it had been hard enough to convince some of their parents that they could be trusted at a sleepover on a school night.

Mike and Alex both ended up in his room, John and Randy taking the one further across the floor, Evan and Punk having taken a room on the floor below, Cody and Ted having the other one. Camp beds and spare duvets and pillows had been doled out, no one seeming especially bothered by the fact that none of the spare rooms had actual beds in them.

“We don’t have people over often,” Alex had said somewhat evasively when Cody had curiously asked why, since the rest of the house seemed so well furnished.

Alex’s father didn’t really have any family (indeed Alex didn’t even know if he had grandparents or aunts, uncles on his father’s side because the man never spoke about his family) and his mother’s relatives had always tried hard to stay in his life but after the Incident they had slowly drifted out the same way everyone else had.

“When is your dad due home?” Mike murmured, curled up underneath the covers with Alex.

The other shrugged, “Tonight as far as I knew, and he hasn’t gotten in touch to say otherwise, so…”

“Do you miss him?” Mike knew he was probably prodding at sensitive wounds but he needed to know.

It grew so silent following that that he couldn’t help but wonder whether Alex had fallen asleep on him.

“I miss who he used to be more,” Alex finally admitted, voice barely audible and sounding like the little boy who had been punished by said parent because he couldn’t handle his own guilt.

“I’d like to give him a piece of my mind,” Mike muttered as he pressed closer to Alex’s chest and dropped a kiss to one of his bare pecs.

A kiss was pressed into his hair in response, “Don’t bother… Nothing will ever make him change his ways. Besides, it’s not as though I’m not used to it.”

But you shouldn’t be used to it, Mike wanted to protest. However, this time he discovered that Alex really had fallen asleep on him. Smiling softly and shaking his head Mike closed his eyes and nestled his head atop Alex’s chest, the sound of his boyfriend’s steady breathing and heartbeat eventually lulling him off to sleep.

It felt like it had been no time at all when he started to stir, and when he took note of the fact that it felt like someone was watching him he forced himself into alertness immediately. He’d only seen a photo of a much younger man than the one before him, but it was easy to recognise Mr Riley.

~::~ 

He blinked a couple of times, trying to rouse himself into wakefulness; they hadn't closed the curtains when they had gone to bed and that left a lot of light for him to see by. He had time to wonder if creeping into Alex's room when he was sleeping was a little creepy, or if he was likely to be the kind to throw a fit when finding his son in bed with another man... and then he forgot all about the semi-coherent questions when he saw the expression on the man's face and the unmistakeable shadow of something in his hands. 

That's not what it looks like, he thought, his heart starting to thud rapidly in his chest. I've not been caught in bed by a father with a gun.

“Uh...” He shifted cautiously, sitting up. The view didn't improve with the change of position, it only confirmed his worst fear and crazily he wondered if Alex would ditch him for pissing the bed. Or bleeding all over it. “Could you uh, please put that thing away?”

Alex mumbled something in his sleep but Mike didn't dare look. Mr Riley was staring at him, eyes wide, the gun pointed straight at Mike. It was a small, rather insignificant looking item, the kind that someone might keep in a desk drawer as a half-assed protection but that was hardly a comfort, if it was loaded then there was no reason it couldn't do damage.

“Get out of my son's bed,” growled Mr Riley in low tones. “You'll take advantage of him over my dead body.”

It wasn't his dead body that Mike was concerned about but the voice had roused Alex, who sat up quickly, a protective arm going around Mike. “What the hell dad? Why is there a gun in the house? Put it away!”

Alex sounded terrified and while it wasn't a good sign, it galvanised Mike into action. He utilised his most confident, condescending air while resting a hand on Alex's back and rubbing it a little. He didn't believe that the man would shoot while he was in bed with Alex... but there was always that little bit of doubt. “Put the gun aside and we'll be happy to--”

“Shut up.” Mr Riley tilted his head, not moving the gun. “Alex, did he hurt you?”

“He's my boyfriend.” Alex's hand rested protectively on Mike's chest, staring at his father. “What, do you think he just snuck in here and climbed into--”

“Get out of his bed!”

Mike looked uncertainly at Alex, wondering if getting out of the bed was a good idea or not – he couldn't escape the thought that the only thing between him and getting shot was the boy he was in bed with and as soon as he was a safe distance away, the man would open fire. Alex narrowed his eyes. “Mike stayed here because he was worried about me. He didn't want me to be alone while you weren't here. Stop trying to threaten him, he's not an intruder!”

There was a commotion in the hallway and Mr Riley jerked his head slightly in that direction, looking panicked. Alex leapt from the bed, going over to his father and taking hold of the gun. “Dad! It's just my friends, they're staying because they didn't want me to be alone either--”

The door was flung open. Mike thought dimly that if the man with the gun wasn't the owner of the house, then he'd probably be very alarmed to be confronted with the semi-naked brick shithouses that Randy and John were – actually, he was probably going to be alarmed regardless. Alex's head snapped in their direction and he seemed to be thinking faster than Mike was and a lot more lucidly as well. “Guys! This is my dad, it's all fine. Go back to bed, give me a few minutes and I'll come in and explain. Okay?”

The tone of his voice had both men pausing. “You sure Riley?” asked Randy gruffly. 

“Very sure,” returned Alex. 

The two looked uncertainly at the scene and Mike managed a smile that looked more like a grimace at them. John didn't look happy about it but since there seemed no immediate danger, they retreated a little – although Mike suspected that they were lingering in the hallway rather than back in their own room. 

“Dad,” said Alex calmly. “Please give that to me.”

Mr Riley's eyes went to Mike again and he didn't seem entirely sure whether it was a good idea or not.

“Dad!” Alex sounded more exasperated than anything else. “This is Mike and while I'd hoped to introduce you over dinner or something, you can be sure he's been invited to be in bed with me. He's even wearing boxers! Really, you don't have to worry.” His voice grew more gentle. “Really dad. It's fine.”

Mr Riley looked over at Mike again, then sighed and pointed the gun at the floor. Mike breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that the dizziness he felt in the aftermath didn't mean he was about to faint. 

“I'm – well.” The man gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. “I was just checking on you and I saw... I suppose I should have known but I wasn't thinking too clearly. I just kept thinking of – the past.”

“Mike knows all about it,” said Alex, almost absently. “So do the others, most of it. Are you seriously telling me you were scared for me?”

Mr Riley looked almost shocked. “Of course. I see some man in your bed and – well, I suppose it doesn't matter.” He looked over at Mike and really looked at him, seeming even more embarrassed when he realised that Mike was only about the same age as his own son. “I owe you an apology son, I just saw someone with Alex and freaked. That's what you kids say, isn't it? That's what I did.”

“If it freaks you out so much, then why aren't you around more?” Mike was starting to get over his initial fear and get angry instead. There had been a gun pointed at him a moment ago and while it was every rich kids worst fear, he'd never expected it to happen while he was in bed. At the mall shopping, some thief taking off with his wallet, maybe. Not the father of his boyfriend. “If you'd been here, you'd know that I was around and you'd know that it's been a rough few weeks for Alex--”

“Mike. Not the time.” The words were chastising but there was affection in the tone. Mike wanted to tell Alex that it was nowhere near enough but for once his brain intervened and he kept quiet, with great effort. 

“What's he talking about?” asked Mr Riley. 

“Why is there a gun in the house?” Alex countered. “You know how I feel about that. You promised you'd get rid of them. After what happened, you said you'd gotten rid of all of them!”

“This is the only one,” his father countered. “Look, I know that I said I'd gotten rid of them all and I pretty much have. This is all that's left. I just wanted to have something around, in case of an emergency.”

“You said there were none left.” Alex prised the gun from his fathers hand and set it on the bedside table with clear distaste. “I know that it was because you showed me how to use one that I was able to use one, but just knowing it's been here the whole time... it makes me feel sick. And where's the protection? You were about to use it on an innocent teenage boy!”

“I wasn't gonna use it.” His father looked rather ashamed. “I just wanted to scare him, have enough control to get him away from you and some place I could call the cops, use it to hold him 'til they got here.”

“Is it loaded?”

“Yeah.” 

Mike almost fainted anyway.

“But the safety's on. I didn't know you had a boyfriend... hell, I didn't know you swung that way. You never said.”

“He might have said if you were ever here,” snapped Mike, unable to hold his silence a moment longer. 

“Mike, maybe you wanna go tell John and Randy that things are under control here?” Alex glanced over at Mike and even in the semi-darkness Mike could read the plea in his eyes. “Then come back to bed. I won't be long. We've got school tomorrow.”

Mike nodded, clearly not happy. “Fine. I'll tell them there's no reason to be afraid of the crazy man with the gun.” He got out of bed, surreptitiously checking that he hadn't pissed himself without noticing when the activities had gotten a little mad and then heading out into the hallway. 

Alex watched him go, then sighed. “I think you and I should have words. The study though, not here. And please get that thing out of my room.”

Without a word, his father took the gun and they both walked from the room. There was no one in the hallway but Alex knew that Mike had probably ushered whoever was out there into John and Randy's room – and he was willing to bet that there had been more than the two he had seen who'd heard something going on. After the way they'd accepted him as one of them, the last thing he wanted was for them to stay away because his dad was nuts.

~:~

The study was a room that Alex never went into normally. It was purely his father's domain, where he worked when he was at home. They'd had one everywhere they'd lived and although he wasn't forbidden from entering, he simply didn't want to. In spite of the reluctance there was one of his favourite pictures in the room; his mother laughing at the side of some body of water, wearing a greenish-blue ankle length dress, laughing at the camera. His father was beside her, laughing in a way that Alex hadn't seen in a long time. His hand was casually resting on her stomach, swelled with child. Him. Whenever he saw it, he was reassured that he had been a wanted child, a loved child. It was simply life and the world that had screwed things up. 

Near that was another picture with him in it in a more obvious way, a four year old giggling as his father knelt behind his small form, hugging him. They looked as if they were sharing some secret that no one else would ever be privy to. It had been taken at Christmas, that much seemed obvious from the surroundings. Alex just wished he could remember it. It occurred to him, not for the first time, that while his father didn't seem ready to deal with him as he was he certainly surrounded himself with memories; Alex Riley as he had been. 

The same desk had been moving locations with them since forever and usually his father sat behind it, Alex sat in front and feeling very much like he'd been called in to see the headmaster. However, this time his father debated and then sat in one of the seats on the other side, disregarding his usual seats. Surprised, Alex sat opposite from him. 

“You're gay,” his father said flatly. 

Alex nodded. It didn't seem worth denying, since he had been caught in bed with Mike. And he thought that even if that hadn't been the case, he wouldn't have denied it anyway. Mike had caught him completely by surprise but that didn't change the fact that Alex loved the way he had reacted to the news of what had happened, the way he hadn't dismissed him, the way he had cared honestly about what had happened to him and about him – who was he kidding? He loved Mike. And he wasn't about to say otherwise. 

His father cleared his throat. “Uh, are you gay because of what happened then?”

Alex blinked. “No! Shit, I'm gay in spite of what happened. Look, girls who get raped don't suddenly become lesbians because of the rape, right? I suppose that guys don't go straight either. And Mike is a good guy, dad. Really.” He might have said more, but he noticed how his father winced every time he said the R-word. He knew that his father had never quite recovered from what had happened to his only child. 

“What did he mean, when he said you'd had it rough?”

“Someone found out,” said Alex. “Someone who wanted to use the information to make Mike do what she wanted. She thought what I did would make him hate me. She was wrong. He's the only person who ever saw beyond that one desperate act and realised that I wasn't all about one week when I was twelve.”

“Alex...”

“Don't. Let me tell you how things have been since I've been here. I've met some of the lowest people I could ever meet while I've been here, and I had to cope with that on my own. Except I didn't. Because Mike was told about everything from some other source and he didn't turn from me in disgust. He stood by me, he wanted my side of the story, he actually put himself on the line for me...” Alex shook his head. “I've never had that before. And then he convinced me that I should give my friends an outline at least, tell them a little of what happened. And I did. And y'know? They didn't judge me either. All they said was in the same situation, they'd hope they got the same chance. Obviously I didn't mention to them how far it went, but Mike knows. And he stood by me anyway. My friends said that they'd keep it to themselves and then – nothing much. They just accepted it, they know it and how it makes me feel and that's the end of it. They didn't do that thing where they fish for details under the guise of friendship and they didn't reject me. I could probably go to any one of them, even Orton, and talk about it and they might not be comfortable but they'd accept it. Not that I would of course but the point's the same. And tonight, they all wanted to stay. Because they know how much I get left alone and what happened, and none of them thought it was right. I think they wanted to protect me without coming out and saying so. Not that I need it now, but it's like they want to protect me then. It's not something I was expecting.”

Mr Riley listened to this in silence, only commenting when he knew Alex had finished. “Son... I know I'm gone a lot. But – oh hell, this is hard to explain. There's the one part, from before you were taken. I had no one else but you. Your mother and I had plans. We were going to have one more child, we were hoping for a girl for balance but we didn't mind another boy. You were a treat as a baby and we could live with another little Alex. Except then she was gone and at that point...” He sighed. “To you, four years seems a lifetime. It did to me as a teenager. Then, you were twelve. In no time at all you'd be on your own, at college and then out in the world and I'd have nothing left, except for work. And even if you needed me, you wouldn't for long. If I paused, in my job? I couldn't come back after a break like that.”

“You have enough money--”

“It wasn't the money. Once you were gone, I'd have nothing else to do. What would I do? Be retired, go golfing, sit in that big house we used to live in and rot? I had work and I had you and you would be gone soon. Everything I'd planned had gone when your mother died. I had to keep going. And then you were kidnapped and I thought the whole world was falling apart. I thought that God was punishing me for having my principles all screwed up and I didn't see why you had to suffer for it. And then afterwards – oh, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to fix you. I knew that it was my fault and I couldn't face you--”

“Wait.” Alex leaned forward, incredulous. “Your fault?”

“I hired the housekeeper, I was gone. I didn't get them their damned money quickly enough.”

Alex digested this. He had blamed his father more than once for what had happened, but he had never realised that his father thought blame rested with him as well. 

“I tried to stay home. But I'm a bit of a workaholic, as you know. And with everything that had happened...” Mr Riley sighed. “I knew you blamed me too, and your mother would be blaming me. I found it hard to face you. That doesn't mean I didn't want to protect you. I knew I couldn't do it at a distance but the distance was – easier. I didn't know how to deal with you close up.”

“Dad...” Alex shook his head. “If you could have faced me, talked to me, you might have saved me a lot of pain. I thought you couldn't bear to look at me because.... because I wasn't a good boy. And I killed someone.”

“Trust me, if I go to Hell then I'll be seeking out that fucker to kill him twice.” Mr Riley looked up at Alex. “I didn't blame you then and I don't now. And when I saw that boy in bed with you, I just thought about – then. When I was pulled into the room at the police station and they told me everything. How much I wanted to hurt someone. And then when you came home and I didn't know how to talk to you, because I didn't know even before.”

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “It's been a long trip and I'm tired. If you want to be with that boy, that's okay with me – I always thought I'd have more of a problem but really, I don't. He wanted to stand up for you and I like that in a date. Maybe you should calm him down a little.”

Alex stood up and then his father rose, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Alex... please don't think that I didn't love you. I did and do. I just wasn't able to deal with it all. I wish I had something better for you, but I don't. And I'm sorry.”

“I know dad.” Alex sighed, then gave his father a very quick hug. It felt strange but he didn't want to carry on the animosity any more than he had to. He knew it was hard – but he was the one who had to live through it and his dad could make all the excuses he wanted and it didn't change that he had been gone when Alex had desperately needed him. Still, he wanted a relationship with his father. His fathers actions felt selfish but he was only human and the only family that Alex had. 

“When I pulled that gun – I just wanted to stop it happening again.”

“I know dad.” Alex sighed wearily, thinking he might take the day off school tomorrow. He didn't have to pass anything, he had his fathers money to see him through. He knew that Mike was under orders though, so he'd wake for that. As for himself though, he saw himself as a trust fund kid, bumming around for the rest of his life. It wasn't what he wanted to be but with the uneven schooling and his average grades, he wasn't about to set the world on fire. 

He was mildly depressed as he headed for his own room, hoping that Mike wasn't about to judge him by his father and dump him on the spot.

~::~

So leery was he of how Mike would have reacted to what had happened that he half expected that the other boy would have left… He wouldn’t have blamed him. After all, Alex had probably committed quite the faux pas as far as the other boys were concerned: he had mentioned that his father was due to be returning home, but he hadn’t mentioned the fact that he was an excitable, gun-toting nutter when he got worked up. Not that Alex had been aware there was a gun of course… Just thinking about it made his stomach roll and although he had been intending to go straight to Mike he had to make a detour into his ensuite.

There was no way to look cool when you were throwing up in front of your partner.

When a hand rubbed his back he groaned softly, harrumphing slightly before then bringing his head up enough to see the other out of the corner of his eye, “I kinda wish you weren’t sat here right now.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not looking inside the bowl.”

“That’s not what I meant but… thanks. If you could kinda forget this little moment too I’d be even more indebted to you than I already am.”

“Alex, it’s not like I’ve never thrown up before,” Mike chuckled ruefully, getting up and getting him a glass of water before bringing it back to him to rinse his mouth out with, “Actually, you’ve managed to make it to the bathroom… you should consider that impressive. I can’t remember the last time I was sick and managed to make it to the toilet…”

“How did I snag such a classy guy?” Alex coughed lightly before straightening up slowly, head still a little woozy.

“Because you’re just that lucky,” Mike smirked lightly before then losing the smirk as he looked concerned once more, “Did everything go OK?”

“Can we go back into my room?” Alex asked, flushing the toilet.

Seeming to realise where they were then Mike nodded and helped Alex back into his room, the pair resuming their prior position underneath the covers; Mike snuggling closer to him even though Alex had been somewhat weary of letting that happen since he had just tossed his cookies and his breath was less than fresh.

“First off, I’m so very sorry about what happened…” he shook his head from side to side, “I swear I had no idea that he had a g—one of those things.”

Mike rubbed a hand over Alex’s exposed arms, feeling goosebumps had sprung up strongly on his skin, undoubtedly in response to what had just happened, and the thought of firearms. He was even trembling lightly.

Although he might be upstanding and adjusted for most things Alex clearly still retained some trauma.

“I know,” the smaller man soothed, “You wouldn’t have reacted like you did if you had…” he chuckled wanly and without much humour, “Of course I would like to think you would have warned me about your dad having a gun under other circumstances.”

“Of course I would have!”

“Thanks.” He fidgeted slightly and admitted, “Consider yourself lucky you aren’t needing a new change of sheets. I thought I was having a freaky-ass nightmare.”

A slightly sad mewl left Alex, “Yeah, that wasn’t how I planned introducing you to him. And I sure as hell didn’t think he’d do that. Great first impression he’s left on everyone…” he laughed, trying to inject some legitimate humour into it even though his joking tone was weak when he said, “I bet no one’ll want to stay over again, and if they do then they’ll be wearing bullet-proof vests.”

Rubbing Alex’s side gently Mike assured, “I’m sure this isn’t going to put everyone off…” though he couldn’t fully deny the bullet-proof vest bit; he was already considering investing in one pretty sharpish as soon as he got his next lot of allowance. Even though Mr Riley might no longer consider him a threat he wasn’t altogether convinced that the man wouldn’t still hold him with a typical parental-weariness just because he was dating the man’s son.

“So… You’ve never dated any other boys before?” he asked. He vaguely recalled Alex had mentioned not dating much, but that didn’t mean anything really.

“No,” he flushed awkwardly, “I guess at my age that’s incredibly sheltered huh?”

“Babe, it’s understandable. And if it were me I don’t doubt it would be the same.”

“But I mean it, I’m not afraid of you or anything, and I… I’d like to still be with you, if you’ll have me…” he lowered his eyes slightly and exhaled, “I mean… you shouldn’t have to put up with my dad pointing a gun at you. It’s ridiculous. And I think I’ve made my feelings pretty damned clear to him about everything he did.”

If it wouldn’t have been taken wholly the wrong way then Mike would have probably smacked Alex upside the head. In the back of his mind he knew that he should probably be considering getting to sleep soon since he had classes in the morning (unfortunately, thanks to The Ultimatum he knew he wouldn’t be able to twag off the way he once might have done) but the thought of facing classes a little tired didn’t bother him nearly so much as the thought of going to sleep without making sure Alex was alright first.

“Did you and your dad get things straightened out then?” he asked, and then added, “And for the record every time you doubt my feelings for you, or think I’m gonna leave you, I’m gonna smack you with whatever I can get my hands on.”

Even in the darkness Mike could make out Alex’s startled and amused expression, “Consider me warned,” he assured and then sighed, “I think it’ll be a long time before we can be considered a normal father and son.” If ever what with the past Incident and everything else weighing on them. Inhaling a slightly tremulous breath Alex whispered, “I know now that he still loves me, even if he handled his own guilt badly and projected it on to me when he shouldn’t have.”

Arms tightening around Alex, Mike murmured urgently, “Obviously he still loves you! Parents don’t just fall out of love with their kids—“he then paused, “That sounded a little weird didn’t it?”

A sound that was suspiciously like a chuckle crossed with a sniffle sounded, though Mike neatly side-stepped commenting on it. Composing himself Alex nodded his head, “Yeah, just a little. But don’t worry: I know you didn’t mean anything weird. But… Yeah, he loves me, and he’s sorry. I mean, that’s as good a start as any right?”

“Absolutely,” Mike said reassuringly.

One day he intended to finish what he started earlier and to give Mr Riley a piece of his mind about the way he had been treating Alex, reason or not, and to give him a firm telling as to how he should be treating his boyfriend from then on. Since it was unlikely that he would be able to do any such thing when Alex was there he would have to wait until he could get the man alone… good job he knew Alex’s schedule, and suspected that the man would make more of an effort to be around for his son, if only for a few days.

“Let’s go to sleep now OK?” Mike murmured.

Alex yawned softly, suddenly aware of just how tired he still was even though according to the luminous digits of his bedside clock he had been asleep a good handful of hours since he went to bed.

“Yeah, sleep sounds like a good idea.”

“Hey, maybe we are still asleep and this has just been a weird dream,” Mike mumbled as he started to find himself drifting back to sleep.

Alex’s responding comment made his heart do the Macarena in his chest.

“This wouldn’t be the scenario I had in mind dreaming about you, Mike.”


	15. Chapter Fourteen: A Question Of WIP

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things seem to be getting back to normal for the boys, and Alex and his dad try to have a proper conversation.

“Well, that was certainly an interesting sleepover,” Cody commented, stretching as he led the way through the front doors. Punk and Evan followed, Punk’s arm draped casually (but possessively) around his shoulders, the smaller man leaning into him, John and Randy following. They weren’t holding hands or anything gesture-like that couples tended to do, but the atmosphere around them was definitely much more… intimate.

They hadn’t expressed at large that they were back together to the general populous of the school, both agreeing that they could just act as they would and let everyone find out on their own. Cody had volunteered to stand on the top of the school with a mega-phone to broadcast the news out for them if it was too much aggravation to deal with people.

Randy had responded by threatening Cody that he’d tell Ted every embarrassing thing he’d done since childhood if he opened his mouth. Despite assurances from Ted that he wouldn’t love Cody any less for anything he was told Cody had kept almost comically quiet when it came to John and Randy’s relationship. Still, the improved moods of their ‘leaders’ definitely reflected well on the rest of them even though they hadn’t really noticed to what degree that would happen until it actually occurred.

“I’m sure Mr Riley’s a nice man… when he’s not waving a firearm around,” Ted bit his lip.

Indeed, the following morning when they had all gotten up properly, Mr Riley had actually had breakfast delivered for them and made a conscious effort to make them feel welcome. He had obviously been of the opinion that none of the group (barring Randy, John and Alex) had realised what had happened even though they had all awoken and gone down into the hallway, Mike getting them away as Alex had suspected before Mr Riley had seen them.

“He would’ve been real nice meeting my fist if he’d have done something to either Mike or Alex.”

Mike pretended to clutch his chest and bat his lashes, “Why Randy! I didn’t know you cared.”

A light pink tinge appeared on Randy’s cheeks before he pushed the other boy; Randy was a caring person but being called out on it made him feel uncomfortable, and as such it was better to just acknowledge his gestures and then move on. He didn’t appreciate being teased, even by John.

… Unless he was naked and covered in whipped-cream that was.

“Was Alex OK?” this time Evan was the one to address Mike, referring to their friend who was absent from school that day unsurprisingly. Alex’s father had phoned the school to say he wasn’t well, and although that would usually be met with many questions they accepted it without complaint this time. They hadn’t said anything but they felt the not-so-subtle comments Mr Riley had made about the school’s security being lax enough to let his son’s file go walk-about had something to do with it. Even Mike had had to grudgingly admit the man had a way with words; it was just a shame that the flair for conversation didn’t carry across to his own son.

“I think so,” Mike sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair lightly, sans fedora and gel, making him look remarkably young. He’d been so focused on Alex that morning though he hadn’t even thought to primp the way he usually wouldn’t be caught dead without. It had gained him more attention than one would believe in an all boys’ school but Mike had barely noticed, “He still seemed kinda tired… and nervous, but since he hasn’t probably spent so much time with his dad in fuck knows how long it was probably an awkward prospect.”

“Mike, be nice,” Punk chided, “The man might be your father-in-law one day.”

Mike’s cheeks bloomed red and he kicked out at his friend who side-stepped without difficulty, pulling Evan aside and sticking his tongue out with a mildly smug look as he did so.

Floundering (for once) for some kind of comeback Mike then retorted, “I’d hate to think what Evan’s parents must think of you.”

“Well you’re going to be disappointed there pal,” a definitely smug and yet affectionate look appeared on Punk’s face, “Evan’s mum likes me so much I think she’d adopt me into the family even without the wedding-certificate.”

“What about his dad?”

“Work in progress.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” Cody sighed before smiling at Ted to show he really didn’t mind the fact that it would probably be some time before he had gained the blonde’s parents’ approval enough to feel reassured about his interactions with them.

“Still,” John said a little wanly, “I doubt all that many people can say they were threatened by a spouse’s parent with a gun for real,” though you heard jokes and hypotheticals about it all the time. Hell, it was well-used in films and literature.

“You can’t just make a standard first impression can you Mike?”

“Fuck you Randy… Just because you have to swan in, groin and nipples thrust out so far you’d think you were attached to something.”

Randy smirked and arched a brow as Punk made a strange choking sound that then developed into laughter, “I’m sure that usually is the case. Maybe we should ask John just how true it is though?”

As his friends fell into noisy chatter as they continued their way to class Mike remained oddly silent and thoughtful, remaining that way to such an extent throughout the day that more than one teacher had commented about his strange mood. Mike hadn’t been sure whether to be offended that they would think so negatively or flattered that so many people paid attention to him that they noticed when his habits changed even marginally.

He text Alex numerous times during the day whenever he could and even called him on lunchtime, both to see how he was doing and also just because he wanted to hear the other’s voice. He was whipped, that knowledge was more than clear to him now, but he was OK with that. If Alex was the one he was facing the prospect of monogamy and a future that was twined to another person’s then he was willing to give it a go.

Step One: Finish secondary school and go on to college, proving to his father that Alex was not a bad influence and that he could cope with what pressures a relationship of this calibre might bring into his life.

~::~

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to Doctor Grisham?” Mr Riley asked hesitantly, glancing across at Alex from where they were seated opposite each other in the living-room, the TV on and some sporting game playing. Alex hadn’t been paying too much attention to it, more concerned with how he was supposed to handle whatever questions his father may come out with concerning the way his son’s life had changed during recent weeks.

“I don’t need to talk to Doctor Todd.”

Todd had always insisted he call him by his name, claimed ‘Doctor’ made him feel all stuffy (it had been one of those ploys Alex was more than familiar with by that point; buttering him up and making him think that the therapist was his friend and more like him than the other grown-ups) and Alex had never quite managed to drop some sort of title despite the Doctor’s assurance that he could.

As far as therapists went he didn’t mind Todd all that much, though he did seem like a bit of a wet-blanket occasionally.

“Are you sure?” clearly his father was doing his best not to seem too pushy but already Alex was beginning to feel annoyed.

“I thought the point of me staying home from school together was so we could spend some time together and talk?” he sniped a little more cruelly than he intended. He couldn’t help it; he was just as nervous as his father, even though the man seemed to somehow think that Alex had been coping with things better than he had.

Flinching slightly Mr Riley exhaled and nodded, “And it is. I just… I don’t know what more I can say than I’ve already said.”

Alex shifted uncomfortably, “I didn’t mean that we have to talk about that happening to me.”

A look of relief flooded over Mr Riley’s face before he caught himself and then seemed to wrack his brains a moment before settling on a topic that seemed so very obvious when he actually came out with it.

“Tell me about Michael.”

“Mike.”

“Yes, him.”

A blush stained Alex’s cheeks and he looked at his father incredulously, “You really want to know?” he hadn’t appeared to really know what to make of the fact his son was seeing another boy earlier on, and that apparently hadn’t adjusted overnight given how gingerly he had treated Mike during breakfast.

“Yes,” the man said fervently and then hesitated, a blush staining his own cheeks; it was easy to see the resemblance in that moment, “So uh, you two are--- I mean, of course you’re at that age now and you’ll want to--- ah, try new things but—”

“La la la la!” Alex immediately covered his hands over his ears, “No! Dad, I said I wanted us to have a bonding conversation but that topic is completely off limits!”


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Our New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graduation Day has come, and the boys have to face upto the future.

Mr Riley smirked a little. “I suppose it's tough enough when you're talking about a girl. So okay, off limits. I take it you met him at school?”

“Yeah, through friends...” Alex guessed his father wasn't about to let him get away with being vague; it was rare that they had a conversation about much more than the weather or his grades but it seemed his dad was determined to at least try to make up for lost time and Alex didn't have the heart to let him down. In any case, he had wanted that since he was young and although a part of him wanted to tell his dad it was too late and he should get bent, another part warned him that he would only be hurting himself at the same time. “John was asked to show me around school and I fell in with his friends at the same time. Us two, plus Ted and Evan, were pretty much part of the same group. When I got there John and Randy had broken up for a while, they're back together now and Randy was uh, upset about it I guess. He came over to tell me John wasn't available to anyone else and he pissed me off, so I kissed John on the cheek. Randy was... not happy.”

“Randy's about seven foot tall,” said his father sharply. “You're lucky you didn't get hurt.”

“He saw the funny side later on. I don't like people telling my friends what they can and can't do. Anyway, he's only six-five or so.”

His father nodded. “And through Randy you met Mike?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Alex was not going into how Mike found out where he lived and given him a blow-job in the hallway. “Punk and Evan got together either just before or just after I arrived and apparently Ted and Cody circled each other for years, but they're together as well. Ted's dad's a minister, so it's not really straightforward for them. And Mike had a girlfriend, although they're no longer together.”

“I should hope not.” Mr Riley sat forward on the chair, head tilted. “What happened with your file?”

“It was returned anonymously,” said Alex rather shortly. “I haven't heard that anyone knows anything and there's been no rumours, nothing on the net. I would think that if it got out, then the file wouldn't have been returned and I wouldn't be anonymous still. Maybe whoever took it read it and decided to keep it to themselves.” He shrugged. “This isn't the same kind of nonsense that kids get expelled for after all. Maybe it was a bit too serious.”

“Maybe.” His father didn't look convinced. “If it does, we're running out of options as far as schools go. At your age all this disruption is going to take a toll--”

“Dad.” Alex raised a hand. “Even if it gets out, I'm not leaving town.”

“Excuse me?”

“The thing is, you're right about the disruption. I need to settle down somewhere, I can't run off every time someone manages to find out about me. I have to face it sooner or later. And this place... I made friends. I met someone. It was a lot more difficult when I was alone and no one had my back, but now I don't think anyone would allow comments. Like I said, every one of my friends knows more or less what happened. I already know that if it gets out, they'll not be shocked.”

“Have you thought anything about after high school?”

“Not in so much detail.”

“If there's anywhere in particular you wanted to go...” His father shrugged.”I can finance it, that's not an issue. Or if you want to take some time off, maybe you and your friends are, I don't know, going backpacking or something. Maybe the perspective would do you good.” He sighed. “To be honest, when you were a boy I thought that you'd go straight to university from high school. Then there were a few years when I assumed I'd just be taking care of you financially forever, that after everything you'd turn to drugs or something horrible--”

“Thanks for the show of faith dad,” said Alex dryly. 

“It wasn't a lack of faith. Everything I seemed to read up on though, the aftermath always seemed to involve something like that somewhere and I desperately wanted to avoid it – you remember your doctors talking anything about it?”

Alex nodded. He did, although the tactic had usually been that if he found something that made him feel better, no matter what it was, he should confide in them and they wouldn't judge. It had taken him a while to realise that they were watching out for signs of teenage rebellion or some other crutch.

“And also I thought that you might avoid that and maybe go into charity work, that seemed to be the other side. Councillors and the like, y'know? And in that case I'd buy you a place to live and give you an allowance, because that would be fine by me but wouldn't earn you much. Now – I don't know what to think. You seem self-reliant and mature.”

"I had to be, Alex wanted to say but somehow managed to avoid. “I haven't decided yet.”

“No matter what you decide, I'll be there to help you in whatever way I can,” said his father softly. “I haven't show it very well, but I always cared. And I'm proud of who you are, even knowing I had nothing to do with making you into the man you are today.”

Alex shrugged, slightly embarrassed. Maybe he should have crossed the room and hugged his father, bridging the gap between them further, but he couldn't bring himself to do it yet. There was still too much that he had failed to forgive, as much as he was trying to. “Thanks, dad,” he said with a smile. “And whatever I decide, I'll keep you in the know... I've missed talking to you.”

His dad nodded, seeming as embarrassed as Alex was and the topic moved on to lighter things, the game on TV, Alex's preferred subjects at school that he may be interested in – and Mike. His dad might not have asked much about their personal affairs, but he wanted to know about Mike as a person and Alex decided that it was probably a sign of trying to be the kind of parent he was expected to be instead of the one he had been in the past. Maybe finding out that he didn't even know who his son shared a bed with while he was gone had startled the man into taking an interest. Whatever the reason, Alex felt good knowing that maybe the distance between them wasn't the chasm he had thought it would be. 

~:~

“I feel an absolute dick,” growled Punk as he tried to adjust his mortar board. 

“You look an absolute dick,” chuckled Randy, watching Punk act out a full-blown sulk. 

“If your dick looks anything like this, especially the cardboard square around the top, then I pity John.” Punk glowered at Randy, who didn't seem to mind the teasing even slightly, resigned to looking pretty stupid.

“We're graduating,” said Mike, raising the mortar board to check in the mirror, seeing if the dumb thing had flattened his hair. “This is the last thing that high school can throw at us, make us look like knobs as a final humiliation. We do this, it's all over. A few hours to live through.”

“Whatever. I'm not going through this shit again when I get my degree.” Punk huffed a little and surreptitiously raised the sleeve of the robes they had to wear to check out the new tattoo he'd gotten himself lately. His request at turning eighteen had been ink and his parents had been horrified, expecting him to want a car. He had no real interest in that though and in the end they'd said he could have one if it was somewhere it could be hidden beneath his clothes. He had opted for the words straight edge across his stomach in large letters, arguing that of course it would be hidden by clothes. But the new tattoo was one that his parents still didn't know about, they'd freak even if he was of age now. This one he'd gotten to celebrate leaving school and Evan had been the one to choose it. 

“It's still there,” said Randy dryly.

“No shit,” returned Punk, who wasn't sure if he didn't like the new tat more than he did the one he'd chosen by himself. That one had been just like him, the new one was just like Evan and although Evan had no interest in his own ink, he seemed to be rather attracted to Punk's. “I thought you wanted something. A unicorn on your bellybutton or a rose on your ass.”

“You'll know when I get something,” remarked Randy.

Cody sighed. “There's just no way to look good in these things,” he complained loudly, pouting. “These robes make my ass look huge.”

“As long as you have clothes on underneath,” said Mike with a smirk. 

“I have. I'm not sure that Randy does.”

Randy looked injured. “Are you suggesting that I would go on stage in front of everyone wearing nothing but the robes and my balls hanging free?”

His friends raised their eyebrows, indicating they believed Randy was very capable of that.

“Screw you guys. You'll just have to wonder. We're late and our boys are gonna be waiting.”

They trooped out of the changing room as another group hurried in, the two gangs exchanging amused, slightly embarrassed looks at one another as they ducked past. The graduation ceremony itself was taking place on the grounds, there were already parents loitering and taking pictures and more than a few girls from the neighbouring school there to watch their boyfriends get their diplomas. 

Maryse was there, looking stunning as always in an short designed dress and shades. It seemed like the only person who didn't sneak a look on their way past was Mike, who had seen Alex in the distance and was on his way over there with a smile on his face, his friends following when they realised that if they were all together, it made sense that their lovers would be with their friends too and to see one was to locate them all – three of them at least. John was giving a speech and would probably be getting told how to stand, what to say and how long to take before he started. 

Cody faltered a little when it turned out that Alex was indeed with his friends and they were having their pictures taken by Theodore DiBiase Senior, while his son tried not to look like he was about to run for his life after having enough snapshots to last a lifetime and fill a hard drive. But Ted Senior turned to them with the same too-wide smile that he tended to use around Cody, which was something of a relief. That expression meant he was still accepted the relationship; every time Cody saw the man he half-expected him to shout that he knew Cody had been sleeping with his son.

“Hi there,” boomed Senior. “Come on boys, let's get a photo of all of you.”

“Dad,” groaned Ted. 

“You only graduate once--”

“And if you get all the pictures you want, we'll still be here when Brett graduates--”

“If you don't let me take these pictures then I'll make you dress like that so I can get pictures of you and Brett dressed the same so I can add it to the ones of you boys as children.” Senior ushered the other boys into the shot and Mike caught Alex's eyes, both of them looking resigned but quite cheerful about it. But the new additions made for a lot less solemn looking poses, particularly when there was much sneaky holding of hands. The final photo was disturbed by Cody yelping and blaming a sudden cramp, when the real culprit was Ted pinching his ass – there was no way he was saying that to Senior. 

“You're an asshole Ted,” he hissed as Senior finally let them go. 

“Ah, you love my asshole.” Ted winked and Cody rolled his eyes, no good answer to give. 

Punk dropped his arm in its customary place, draped over Evan's shoulders. “You realise that we'll be called out after one another? Me after you? Why don't you hang around on stage and wait for me?”

“Because the last thing I need is for you to do something to get you grounded 'til college,” replied Evan with a grin. “We've got a whole summer and I wasn't planning to spend it alone.”

“I'm a grown-ass man!”

“Yeah? Then you mentioned the new tat to the rents?”

“...I'll be good.” Punk smirked at his boyfriend. “I expect you to wait at the other end of the podium though. Maybe we can skip hand in hand back to our seats.”

“Maybe you can skip all on your own, Phillip.”

They weren't allowed to sit with their parents; instead they ended up in rows at the front while the parents sat at the back. There was a seat for John to take but there was a couple of boys between him and any of his friends and a considerable amount of space between him and Randy, something that had caused Randy to sulk no end when he realised they would be seated in alphabetical order. John gave his speech to some nice applause and a couple of cheers from his friends, John grinning at them and looking over at Randy before he had to go and take his own seat. And then the boring part, waiting for their names to be called and then waiting around afterwards, with only the nerve-wracking part where they had to go on stage to collect their diplomas and pray they didn't trip over their robes. Fortunately there were no embarrassing accidents, although Zack did dive quickly to the front for a “Whoo whoo whoo!” and darting away before anyone could escort him off. Alex had gotten his diploma shortly before Zack and grimaced when he realised there were probably a few pictures of Zack acting up where he was walking back to his seat in front of the stage. Cody had been walking ahead of him though, the two of them talking between themselves during the boring bits (which was most of it) and the other boy didn't seem to bothered about showing up on the pictures, even if the robes did make his ass look fat. 

Finally it was over and after the prerequisite group photos everyone milled out over the grounds. Randy finally managed to get over to John and kissed his cheek. “It's rather nice to be dating a boy out of high school.”

“Yeah, for almost twenty minutes now.” Randy moved in to kiss John properly, partly because he could and partly because he'd had a lecture about it from one of the more prudish teachers – but hey, what was the bitch going to do now he was done with high school? And they were getting a mixed reaction from the parents, somewhere between outrage and amused acceptance. 

“So...” Randy said once they were separated. “We're men now. Maybe we should take our relationship to the next level?”

John raised his eyebrows. “Uh, considering what we did in high school, I don't think there's a new level to raise our relationship to.”

“Good point.” Randy looked innocent. “Of course, there's something I might have been saving 'til graduation night...”

“What?”

“Not telling. It’s a surprise. But once we've done the party rounds, then perhaps you'll come back with me and find out.”

“As long as it's not too loud--”

“Who said we're going home?” Randy smirked. “I've got us a hotel room. We're getting some real alone time.”

“Room service,” said John reverently, laughing when Randy used his shoulder to shove his lover, both of them smirking at one another. John reflected that Randy might have been saving something special for graduation night, but he'd been considering a few ideas of his own; maybe he wasn't the only one getting a surprise that night.

Mike and Alex were trying to make some kind of clean getaway when Mr Riley accosted the both of them, camera at the ready. Alex sighed. “Dad? I appreciate you changing your schedule to come watch me and everything but do you really think we need tons of pictures? It's only high school.”

“Yeah, but these ones aren't for me.” The man looked a little uneasy, trying to hide it with a smile. “I thought that you'd like some pictures of the two of you graduating. Y'know, pictures of the two of you together.”

“I'd like some,” said Mike promptly. It had been a few months since he'd had his little talk with Mr Riley about how he'd been neglecting his son and while the older man didn't appreciate his son's boyfriend interfering, it did at least tell him that Mike was genuine about caring for Alex, while Mike had noticed that the man actually did seem to be trying harder, even if he still wasn't around all the time and travelled for several days at a time. Usually he checked in a lot more and had already mentioned that Mike was welcome to stay when he wasn't there. Mike wondered if the man had spoken with his own parents because they seemed to have become suddenly more relaxed about the whole situation, although Mike couldn't quite work out why. Maybe it was partly because Maryse's father hadn't exacted some terrible revenge by causing them massive financial loss; in fact Maryse apparently thought to put about that she had been the one to do the dumping and was aggrieved when no one believed her, thanks to Layla. Mike had never thought he'd have reason to be grateful to Layla.

Alex wrapped both arms around Mike and the two of them gave the cheesiest smiles they were capable of, the camera snapping the picture. Alex chuckled, posing for a slightly less silly picture next, while Mike tried to look both amused and serious at the same time, while never anything less than sexy of course. The picture taken, Mr Riley fiddled with the camera a little. “So, Mike – journalism and media?”

“It's what I've been planning to do all along,” Mike replied casually. “I think I'd be good with a camera.”

“Hmm, I'm not sure this camera agrees,” joked Mr Riley. “And at least there'll be someone there you know.” He gave Alex a slightly critical look; he had long said that he wasn't sure Alex was doing the best thing when he had insisted on the same university as Mike. But he had the appropriate grades, there was a course there that he said he liked the sound of even if he still wasn't sure completely what he wanted to do with his life and money of course was no object. Alex had listened to the objections, shot them down and when the doubts remained, he had used the rather low blow of saying he wanted to go with Mike because he was enjoying no longer being alone. That had stopped most of the criticism but there were the occasional comments that showed he wasn't entirely behind the idea. 

“Oh, there's your parents,” Mr Riley said casually, waving over to Mr and Mrs Mizanin. Both boys noticed with a combination of amusement and dread that they had their cameras at the ready too – this was really going to be one of those days when they simply couldn't escape it. Mr Riley started off in that direction, Mike and Alex linking hands and lingering a little to get over there. 

“Gonna be strange, going somewhere else next year,” commented Mike. 

“Not so much for me,” said Alex with a grin. “And there's the whole summer first, with the rest of the guys. Who we'll probably see all the time anyway, even after we go to uni.”

Mike laughed. “True that. But it's still gonna be completely different. A whole new start.”

“New beginnings,” said Alex. “They've been working out well for me lately. I couldn't be happier with them.”

Mike nodded in agreement and the pair hurried over, robes swishing around their ankles, to join the rest of their families.


End file.
